Week 76: Five Points!

Another week has already come and gone. Time goes by so fast - especially when there is so much to do. We’ve even canceled appointments because we haven’t had enough time to visit all of our investigators and less-actives. I love being busy: doing lots, visiting lots, and serving lots!

We even got five points out of the seven for the week! The points are goals that help us keep focused each day. To earn a point for a day we need to visit a member, visit a less active or convert with a member accompanying us, and have an investigator lesson with a member accompanying us. We usually earn three points in a week, but we have been working really hard to get four points. This week we were able to get five! It has made me very happy. We’ve started this week well too; we already got a point for Monday. Six or seven, here we come. Ojala!

My companion, hermana Fernandez, is doing super well and making a lot of progress. She has an incredible memory. She remembers like every scripture known to mankind, and whips them out in lessons as the spirit dictates. It’s super awesome. I think she is going to be a really great missionary. She’s already really good and really cares for the people. I think I will be leaving the sector in good hands, which makes me happy. I love this sector.

Week 75: Emotion Overload

I feel like 50 million emotions today. I normally don’t read the emails I get until later, but today I skimmed a bit. So many things have left me with lots of different feelings. I feel content, excited, anxious, nervous, sad, disappointed, confused, and calm all at the same time. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so many different emotions in such a short period of time. I don’t know how to feel? NUMB!  

        

We have an investigator who wants to be baptized and is making a lot of changes in her life. She has given up drinking and now is working on stopping her addiction to pills. The day we met her she told us that she wanted to make all of these changes. She seems happier each time we meet with her. It makes me happy. :)

There is also a less-active that is super great, Zulema. After more than twenty years of inactivity she has a great desire to return to church. She went to General Conference and really liked it. She has been attending all the church meetings and activities. She is so great!

My name is on the list

Hermana Johnston leaves May 5th!

Senior Missionaries

Senior Missionaries

Week 74: Time Crunch

Today I hit the 17th month mark in my mission. It’s weird how it feels like it has gone by fast, but then I look back and realize how much has happened. I will be arriving home one month from today. I still have so many goals that I want to accomplish before I come home. You would think I would be a pro at time management, but this is still a weakness of mine. It appears some of our challenges will stay with us for the majority of our lives. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible and I should quit trying. I shall conquer time someday!

  

We tried food from Thailand for lunch. It was okay, but I’ve found that all the food here from other countries gets "Chileanized". All the food becomes blander. I bet all of the food from other countries in the US gets "Americanized" to have strong flavors and sweeter. We Americans like our sweets.

  

Saturday and Sunday was General Conference. I love General Conferences so much! Hermano Hector went to every session. He said that he had seen big conferences from many other churches, but never one like ours. He said all the talks were really powerful.

Did you watch all the sessions? I sure hope so! The prophet and the twelve apostles receive revelation from God for our day and it’s important that we listen to all that God is telling us. I really liked the talk about grace, from Dieter F. Uchtdforf. It’s easy to feel like we’re not good enough or that we are failures. This talk helps us to understand that God’s saving grace is for us.

Week 73: Hi & Bye

Today has gone by crazy fast - trying to do everything, but not having time sufficient time to do it. We spent about four hours at the doctor’s office today, so now we have no time to write. We are just dropping a quick email to say “hi” and “bye”. Sorry for such a lame letter. Next week will be better!

Unique Flower

Unique Food

Week 72: No Change

I finally felt some earthquakes! They have always happened in the night, so I never noticed them. Everyone else wakes up, but not me. I can sleep through anything. Everything just starts moving; it’s crazy.

This morning my district leader called bright and early - 20 minutes before wake up time. We were all confused to wake up to the phone ringing instead of the alarm. Today was the last time I will receive the nerve-wracking call of the "cambios". I have been wondering what would happen because I have been in Talcahuano for about six months already. Almost no one stays in an area longer than six months – so that would mean I would probably leave. But I am also training a newbie, and usually the trainer stays until the end of the training.

My last 6 weeks in Chile, I will be in... TALCAHUANO! I shall die (figuratively speaking of course) here in this sector. This makes me happy because I like it here a lot! Plus Hermana Parkin and Caceras also are staying, so I don’t have to worry about getting accustomed to another person or anything. Yay! I am very happy with the cambios. 

Week 71: Lots O Migraines

This week was full of things to do (which is good) but it was frustrating because I had tons of migraines. I had one each day for 8 days. Ugh. Luckily there is medicine to take away the pain, so I could keep going. I felt like a bit of a druggie taking pills every day. But what can you do? Just gotta keep going! 

Week 70: 16 Months

I officially hit 16 months in the mission. Whoa man!

 This week went well for me, although I had an increased number of migraines. Luckily we live in an age of advanced medicines, so I don’t have to suffer with them too long.

Attendance at church has increased every week for the past five weeks! At lot of it is due to school starting again and vacations ending, but I’m also sure that people are realizing that it's important to be at church so they can remember Christ by taking the sacrament. It makes me happy to see the less-actives that we have been working with for so long, changing and coming to church. As they dedicate themselves to God again, they become happier people. :) 

Thought of the week:

We should always be asking ourselves, "¿Que más puedo hacer?" which means, "What more can I do?" It’s a fantastic question to be asking ourselves for just about anything: “What more can I do to serve God? What more can I do to help my community/family/friends? What more can I do today to complete my goals for the week?” I encourage you to remember this question all week, and ask yourself, "What more good can I do today, to help make a better tomorrow?"