6-21-11

Tuesday: Today was perfect. We got up and went to Distrizona. There,
we met as Districts and talked about the people we`re teaching. I
shipped off my letters to Estèe and Cassie (friend). We hustled to the
buses to go to lunch. We had yummy rice with ground meat of some sort.
We came home and listened to a talk by Elder Skousen during our
afternoon study session. It talked about the Atonement. Sure, we talk
about the Restoration. But that`s just incidental to the real message:
The atonement. Why did Christ have to be killed in such a horrible
way? Or suffer so much? He showed a scripture that said that it wasn`t
"this much suffering" for "this much sin." It was to move the Father
to feel compassion. It`s ALL about love and mercy. It`s not about
numbers. I was so naive! Still am. ;P Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk. We got into
houses, found new investigators, taught a less-active, and taught
Jessica the sAbbath Day. We taught Denisse the Plan of Salvation. She
understood it all. Then her parents got home. We talked to them. they
said they wanted her to learn more. She`s answered all the questions
in the lesson correctly. I asked her a question to answer. She just
sat there in silence. Dang it! but I`ve learned about myself, in the
mission, that even when I`m stressed on the inside I can keep a cool
poker face. Denisse just lost her baptisimal date but I spoke fluently
and calmly. They`ll speak as a family and pray. I don`t trust the dad.
He lied a few times, but his family called him out. *sigh* But I feel
great for having run from house to house, preaching repentance. WOOT!

Wednesday: Today was amazing! I have been really blessed to be here,
in Huallpen, for this time. When I got here, no doors opened to us.
today and yesterday we`ve been running from appt. to appt. trying to
teach all the people we`ve found. It`s the power of Heaven in the
work. We returned to visit Marìa, a contact from last week. She let us
in and we got to talking. She said she`d been thinking about God and
what Church she should join this very morning. I wanted to start the
lesson after a few minutes, but got the impression that I should
listen more. we got to know her, and how she went to church with her
Grandma when she was 15, some time ago. we taught her the lesson and
got to the First Vision. After I told it, I almost went onto something
else, but, instead, asked how she felt. She didn`t respond right away.
I was on the verge of asking again when I heard a soft voice say, "Not
yet." It was perfectly clear to me. When I looked at Marìa, she was
weeping. She said she remembered her grandma and going to the Temple
and having to stay outside. I testified of Eternal families and the
veracity of our message. She believed it and accepted the invitation
to prepare to be baptized. I know the Spirit was in that lesson and
helped with my own weaknesses. I just had to do my part--try my best.
Pushing my limits for so long is tiring, after a while. We taught some
inactive members and are going to help them on Sunday, so they can
come take the SAcrament. I listened to talks on Temple blessings. They
sound even more wondrous than what I`m seeing now. I can`t wait to go
again.

Thursday: I feel like I`m finally getting it. I feel like I`ve just
been giving it all to the Lord, and getting blessed because of it.
This whole week, we`ve been too busy to do contacts because we`ve been
running around, teaching people who are progressing and coming closer
to their Heavenly Father. That`s all I`ve wanted, since I came on the
mission. I remember not understanding anyone and being a clumsy
teacher. But now I`m talking and joking with the people and teaching
in a foreign language while applying every lesson to the
investigator`s life. God is taking good care of me. We had a fun
contact today. There was a house of bright yellow and red. My comp
made the joke that Rondald McDonald lived there. But when the door
opened, it revealed a man with bloodshot eyes (from drinking) staring
at us with a black look...oh, and he wasn`t wearing a shirt or
pants.While my comp spoke, I let out a snort of laughter because of
the hilarity of it all. I mean OME ON! That`s just CRAZY! We taught
Camily, a 16 year-old witha baby. She`s a year younger than Cassie
(sister), with a child. When we spoke of repentance of sins she said,
"I know one sin. Having relationships before marriage." I was like,
"Yep. You`ve sinned. It`s a fact. Now you have to ask yourself if you
want to get that off your conscience." She`ll keep talking to us. She
said, "I`ll have to stop smoking, huh? That`ll be hard." it will. But
if she wants eternal life with neverending happiness, she`ll be able
to pu her desires in order.

Friday: The days are going by so fast. I discovered that the bottom of
my foot is bruised because the bottom of my shoe is so thin. Those
shoes were still damp this morning from being caught in the storm
yesterday, so I wore my shoes that I`ve been waiting to wear. They`re
supposedly waterproof, but my feet are sometimes damp `cause water
leaks through. Anyway, my feet felt better. We fasted today, for
Denisse. Her parents want her to wait a while. Elder Calaway and his
next comp will be doing a lot of harvesting next transfer. We spoke
with Marìa. We taught the BOM and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She
believes them. We invited her to prepare for the 6th of August. She
can only come to church every other sunday. She said she`d pray about
the date. We helped Hna. Teresa cut some branches from her very sappy
tree. We had so many mashed potatoes that we couldn`t stand up for a
while. Then we did some contacts. I`m finding it a lot easier to get
into houses. Actually, when we were teaching Marìa, she said that I
should be a professor when I get back, because I explained things so
well. But we both know who the real teacher is. We taught Camila the
Restoration. I don`t think she was putting very much focus in it. When
meeting new investigators, you have to show both authority and
friendliness. That way they trust you. But we may have thrown the
balanc too much to the "friend" side. Dang.

Saturday: Today wasn`t so much "bad" as it was "less awesome." In the
morning, I wrote a letter to Elder Calaway`s parents, thanking them
for raising their son in such a good way. He`s really one of my best
friends here, in the mission. We picked up the clothes and then went
to lunch. After that, we did a lot of contacts sothat we can relax a
little tomorrow. We passed by Hna. Marìa because we haven`t passed by
in a while, and she`s our Mamita. We were totally surprised to find
Jeffrey there. Hna. Marìa always talks about him. He was a missionary
that was "adopted" by her. Out of all the gringos, he`s the only one
that`s come back to Chile. Hna. Marìa has 7 daughters. Her only son
died. Jeffrey has the same birthday as that son. And he was sitting at
her table like it was perfectly normal. It was so cool to talk with a
non-missionary gringo. He brought red and black licorice. It made me
miss English a liot. And home. One of our contacts said if we came to
her church she`d come to ours. We`re thinking about it. She said she`d
already studied with the Jehova`s witnesses and asked what we thought
of "the 144,000." I was impressed with the materieal and references I
was able to pull out. I wouldn`t have been able to do that before the
mission. A few of our appts. fell through. That wasn`t much fun. I
just realized today that I`ve missed 2 of Cassie`s (sister) birthdays
in the mission. I`ll be home for her 18th and for when she graduates.
I miss my family a little bit.

Sunday: We had 6 people to look for, this morning, including some
inactive members and Mirta. NOne of them could go to church. MIrta was
the only one who came out, and her dad said she had to stay home and
take care of the hosue. The women in Chile do all the work. Walking
down the street, it`s not strange to see a middle-aged woman with a
power saw on a roof. We didn`t have any investigators in SAcrament
meeting. But Henry, the crazy guy from April 7th, came to Sunday
School. Elder Rubilar, the Assisstant, taught the Restoration. Henry
just spat out crazy comments. He said he had sattelite blueprints in
his house, `cause he has to go up into space and repair them so he
could look for the golden plates. He said he`s an astronaut. He took
off his leather coat and waved in the general direction of himself and
said, "I`m 34. This is a perfect body for an astronaut!" Elder Rubilar
was just laughing so hard. We all were. The four of us, in the house,
talked about deep doctrine for a while after lunch. In the night, 4
Elders from Nueva Imperial got here for the Conference Tomorrow. Elder
Oversby is one of them. I`m so happy to see him again. We`ve been
talking about times past. He`s going to end his mission in August. I`m
going to miss him.

Monday:Pres. Swenson had his farewell today. I learned a lot of things
and felt even more. I learned how literal the phrase "broken heart"
is. I really got my testimony after I left a relationship poorly. My
heart was broken and torn up. That`s when I was able to let the Lord
in. How great it is, to understand that! It had a purpose. I made some
comments during the Conference, and I heard Elder Barajas say, "That`s
my boy!" We talked a lot today. I loved seeing him and just being his
friend. He`ll be going home in 1 transfer. He`s a Zone Leader in
Ñielol. He said he saw Robin and Bilha the other day. They`re getting
sealed in August! Pedro and Cristina are getting sealed in October.
Cesar`s still passing the Sacrament and Estefanì and Jonathan are
still active, too! Every one of my converts are active. I felt such a
great joy. We leave on the mission, not only to prepare yourself, but
to find yourself--your desires and the actions you`ll take without
pressure from others. Before the mission, we did what our parents did
and lived by their rules. When we leave, we can put what we learned
into practice. Will we attend church on our own? Because of the
universal need for personal probation, we came to Earth life. When
there are choices to do otherwise, will we follow the Father? Hna.
Swenson shared a very special exp. that she`d only shared with her
husband. She had been wondering why God Would put people in such hard
situations. god doesn`t make us who we are. She received an answer. In
John 9:3 there was a man who was blind so that God`s power could be
glorified. She testified that we all had a choice before this life.
Would you be willing to be born blind to prove to the world that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God? We agreed to our Personal Plan of Salvation
and all it`s problems. There is a reason for everything. There have
been so many times when I`ve wanted to go home. But I became really
sad today. We sang "Called to Serve" in the end. I was crying, so I
just mouthed the words. Hna. Sherwood is a Sister who got here with
me. She`s almost done, now! And I felt such a love for Pres. and Hna.
Swenson that I NEVER wanted to leave. There are 24 measures in "Called
to Serve," one for every month of the mission. I color as I go. My
time`s going so fast. The Sisters are leaving and it still feels like
THEY are leaving early. So LITTLE time. It`s ending. I can`t stop it.
I feel such dread at the thought of leaving. I said goodbye to Pres.
and Sis. Swenson. They said I was like family and should visit. I said
I wished I had something to give them. Pres. said, "Live a good life."
I`ll do it. They were like my parents. It hurt to see them go. A lot.
I spent the whole day with Lisonbee. Oh! We took a mission picture. We
blindfolded Pres. and Hna. Swenson and then all put on white ties.
they cried. I`m going to miss them, but I`ll make them proud.