12-26-11

Monday: Today was a great Pday. I spent some time in the morning
writing back to Kevin. I like talking with him. I feel like we`re on
the same level. It`ll be so great to see him again. We started out the
day rather well, I think. Elder Maldonado got together a lot of tennis
equipment and invited some members to play with us, at the Church. I
remember being better at that sport. Everybody eelse was totally
kicking my can all over the place. But then I got warmed up and things
went more smoothly for me. After only 2 hours of sunblock-free fun
time, I turned bright red. Yay, Chile. We then went to write the
family. Mom sent me a bunch of pictures of home, which I loved.
Kevin`s doing well in Ukraine. We were going to have FHE with the
Neira family, but they cancelled on us. Ugh!

Tuesday: Today...I loved today. We got up early to go to our Mission
Christmas devotional. We got to see a lot of my friends, including
Elder Lisonbee, and Elder Kemp. Right before the conference started,
President and Sister Kemp came in, too. they both said hi to me. Pres.
Martinez gave them both some time to share their testimonies. As they
spoke, I felt such a strong Spirit of love come from them. The nwe
Missionaries introduced themselves, and I got to see my "grandson",
Elder Tholl. He had the best Spanish out of all of them. Then, we got
to see the MIssion slideshow. It was a LOT shorter than last year`s,
but my photo of me, posing like spider-man made it in. AWESOME! Pres.
told us we have a big influence on his kids. We had a talent show,
full of pianists and guitarists. Then, Pres. wanted to show us how
we`d influenced his kids. I thought his youngest daughter was going to
play the piano, but when Pres. called Hna. Eggbert up, I knew what was
up. Hna. Eggbert is famous in the mission because she can put her
whole hand in her mouth. So can Pres`s daughter, apparently. a lot of
good Missionaries are leaving this transfer. One Missionary said he`d
wanted to go home at the beginning of his mission. But Pres. Swenson
saved his life with one word: "no." I got chills when I heard that.
The Mission is hard, but it`s the only way to learn this stuff. I got
a letter from Cassie! It was sooooooooo awesome. She makes me so
happy. And WHO she is is so impressive. I`m proud of all she`s done.
Way to go, Cass!

Wednesday: Today was the same old, same old. We got up early so we
could go to our Distrizona Meeting. I usually go before the other
companionship, for my leader meeting. But today, the early bus never
arrived. So I had to go with the other Elders. I don`t think I`ve
mentioned this yet, so I will now. It`s been a week since we ran out
of gas. Now we`re taking ice-cold showers. This hasn`t happened in a
year. I think it`s because of the new financial system. Some sectors
need to travel more than others and they used to get more moeny for
that travel at the beginning of the motnh. Now we have to pay for
stuff and reimgburse it. that takes a few weeks. Anyway, everyone in
our hosue is too broke to buy new gas. It`s sweet. When we eventually
got on the bus, we found the lebu Elders, including Elder Corliss. His
comp. had to go home yesterday because he was really sick. I got to
teach my District about asking good questions that cause introspection
and can, at the same time, instruct. JUST LIKE THE SAVIOR DID!!! Very
early in my Mission, I realized this is one of the most important
skills and have dedicated a lot of practice to improving it. I read
something I wrote in the MTC, and the way I spoke was so different. It
was better. Some of the Elders I`ve lived with ahve been a little more
relaxed and crass, and I fear that I`ve become less concerned with my
language. I`m setting a goal to become closer to Christ, this week,
and through my life, through respectful speaking. Obviously, this
never happens in Spanish. so this is meainly to be a better example to
the others in my District. We had some appts. in the afternoon, but
they fell through. We met our goal of contacts, but we didn`t get any
news. BLAST! The Zone Leaders said next week the whole Zone`s gonna
come and help us find people.

Thursday: today was a good day. I woke up and did my studying and
learned hwo to better overcome temptation and sin by casting it out at
the first sign. a lot of studying can be way more effective if we are
aware of what we learned and make constant efforts to apply it to our
lives and make those changes that are the fruits of repentance. We had
our session of Weekly Planning in the morning, as well. While we were
doing that, I got a call from Edler Zuñiga, my hijo. they said
Scarlett will be baptized on February 25th, and that she wants me to
return to Los Angeles so I can baptize her. She`s so special. I hope
she realizes that. That news pretty much made my day. For lunch with
the Neira family, we had rice with steamed veggies and a wonderful
chicken breast. It was very well done. the weeks here are passing by
so quickly. We only have next week left of this transfer. That`s
crazy! In the Afternoon, we had to go on exchanges so I could
interview Alvaro, the other sector`s investigator, for his baptism
this Saturday. It was one of my favorite interivews. He really has a
testimony. He noticed the change between where he was at first and
wheere he is now. He feels a lot calmeer and like a burden has been
lifted. The whole purpose of the interview is to give them a chance to
testify before a representative of the Lord that they are willing and
ready to make a covenant with him. What a wonderful blessing that is.
Tomorrow`s Elder Brady`s birthday, so I got him a box of 30
bon-o-bons. They`re his favorite candy(try and imagine me getting that
information discreetly...it wasn`t. haha.). We did contacts for a
while in their sector while Brady and Smith worked in our sector. Well
done.

Friday: Today was really hard for me. We just didn`t have that much
success. But I`m still good!

Saturday: So today was Christmas Eve, which, inChile, is way more
important than the actual Christmas day. elder Maldonado and I went to
the Chapel at 7 in the morning, to fill up the baptismal font for
their baptism. We came back and did the mnormal thing until 10, when
the baptism was going to take place. Elder Maldonado and I were going
to do a special musical number, but I really don`t know how to sing
harmony and we ended up cancelling it at the last minute. The branch
members are finally warming up to us and acting friendly. I guess
everyone likes a good basptism.And on Christmas Eve, too! Alvaro was
so happy, and not at all nervous. Everything went off without a hitch
(think about that saying. It doesn`t make sense). Last week, Hna.
Nidia assigned Elder Brady a Scripture to share for this week. He did
remarkably well. He knows Spanish. He`s just got to push himself.
because of the holiday, none of the doors we knocked opened. When you
think about it like that, especially in this season, I just think of
that picture of Christ knocking on the door. It`s pretty cool, being a
Missionary during Christmas. All of our contacts were done in the
streets and no one gave us their address. I called Hna. Roa, from my
last sector. She was doing well and sent me her love. We were invited
by Hna. Diaz to spend Christmas Eve with her family. Everyone eats
dinner at 10:30 here, and our curfew put some roast and potatoes in a
container for us. I called hna. Pinar, too. she was so happy to hear
from me. My hijo and grandson were eating dinner with her. I was happy
for my posterity.

Sunday: Today was so awesome! I`m so happy right now. It was
Christmas, today! Our meeting with the Ward Mission Leader was
cancelled. In church, we only had to go to Sacrament Meeting. It was
filled with talks by little Primary girls. The smallest one, who
looked like she was 6, gave a 10-minute talk about what she wanted to,
nothing written. It was a wonderfully impressive discourse.
Afterwards, we had some free time to ourselves before our lunch. We
went home and just relaxed, taking it easy. Eventually, we went to
lunch with the Lazo family. I had so much food that I couldn`t exhale
all the way. Haha. Then, we got to call home with a "video call!" It
was like another world, being able to see and talk with them.
Lindsay`s new home was all decorated and cozy. Everyone`s so excited
for me to come home. Cassie got a new iPhone 3GS. SO jealous! She said
she didn`t know how to use it, and I just had the biggest urge to just
drown her in geekiness. Devin has been stocking up on good galmes
while I`ve been away. He`s such a good padawan. Awww. That`s so great.
Mom said I`d earned a little "somethin`-somethin`" for when I get
home. WOOT! Mom`s super happy. She loves working in the temple...and
swimming...lucky. Haha. Goodbyes weren`t too hard, until Daddy. then,
for somereason, my eyes started sweating uncontrollably. It probably
looked like I was crying. And the air pressure (or something vague)
made it hard to keep my voice from shaking. I love them all so much.
Now I`m all emotionally numb, and stuff. Groovy.

Monday: Today was a great day. We changed things up, this week.
Instead of having Pday, we had our Distrizona, and here in
Curanilahue. Everyone came here, so we didn`t have to spend money on
travel. Everyone came here and we started heading to the woods. We
were also going to share about the Restoration. I helped those of my
District feel that burning desire to know something that Joseph Smith
had ( I find it interesting that, out of all the people that I`m sure
had their questions, he went on a hunt for truth. "I will go and do,
not sit and stew."). I then invited them to go out, into the woods,
and oepen their hearts to the lord, ask for help in their struggles,
and for answers to questions they`ve had. I personally asked to have
strength in my decision-making, being able to be strong and follow
through with what I say I`ll do. As we left the forest, I felt a
distinct peacefulness. I want to be able to help people repent and
change, and I can`t do that if I`m fonforming to them. that`s a cool
thought. we had a big barbeque lunch, with salad and soda. It was so
good, and there was a lot leftover. for the afternoon, we did
exchanges as a zone. I went with Elder Aizpurùa, from Panama. He`s
Elder Mcconnell`s son. Sweet, huh? The whole zone "attacked"
curanilahue, doing contacts. We found, like, o ne good guy. But he
wasn`t that receptive. Just relatively good. It was so stinkin` hot
today. In the evening, we traded back and we went to get some
breakfast for tomorrow with the christmas money mom and dad gave me.