Week 36: Moving On

This week was pretty good! My companion and I hardly had any problems with each other and actually had quite a few good laughs and such. So that was nice. :) And today are CAMBIOS! :O Ahhh! So I am going to be leaving Chillancito now. :( That makes me sad because even after 6 months, I’m still happy here. The members were all very nice, so it will be sad to leave. But it’s ok. It will help me progress and probably the area too. Its good to have change so that nobody gets too complacent with the work of the Lord. 

I am going to PENCO! The playa – beach area! Woo! It’s only about 20 min away from my old area. :) AND I am going to be companions with............ Hermana DAVIDSON! She was my companion from the MTC. How crazy, right? I’m pretty excited! :) I think we will be able to work together pretty well. :D 

Some interesting things that happened this week are that we found a promising investigator by doing one of our seven Maneras. We had a NDH with a member family and they invited some friends. One of them was interested enough to accept to visit with us again. When we taught her again she was receptive and accepted fecha y todo! :) Ojala she will get baptized soon! We’ve also been teaching a recent convert how to read and he’s starting to get a lot better. It makes me very happy to see his progress! We finally got a family who moved into our sector about two months ago to finally come to church again. We’ve been working with them for the past three or four weeks and we were so happy to see them at church yesterday. The family is great, so I really hope they can keep progressing and persevering now!

My spiritual thought I have for you guys today is about the less-actives and recent converts in our wards.  I feel like there is a lot of focus on finding and baptizing. Even though we talk about the importance of recent converts and less actives, I feel we don’t pay enough attention to them. We need to be their friends and help them all we can. The work we do with them is important because they have already made covenants with God. We need to help them keep their promises to God. God has given us many of his "sheep" to look after - there are a ton of MAs, and many are "lost". I feel like God will be less willing to give us more of His "sheep" if we aren’t really taking very good care of the ones that we already have. (Ezekiel 34)

 11 ¶For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.

 12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

 15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God.

 16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick

Week 35: Setbacks & Progress

Coma estan esta semana? Ojala bien! As for me, estoy bien for the most part. It’s been a bit of a rough week, but overall ok. My companion and I are getting along better every day. The main thing that was bummerific this week was that I’ve had a lot of migraines and my medicine seems to not be working as well. :( It was very hard to be motivated to do much and stay concentrated. BUT the good stuff was that I was able to get some doctor appointments and hopefully now they will find some way to prevent the headaches. :)

Guess what? This week I hit my 8-month mark! Wooah! ¡¿Que loco, right?! I can’t believe I’ve almost hit my half way mark of the mission. I’ve already been out the same amount of time as two semesters of college. Weird. My companion hit her 9-month, so we celebrated a little for that, which was fun. :)

Yesterday I felt super happy because a less active couple I’ve been visiting for about 6 months came to church again. They and their children are making big changes in their lives. They desire to become active in church and dedicate themselves to God. :D They are a great family, and it makes me veryhappy to feel I helped them in some small way.

Half Way Through Mission

P-Day Explorations

Week 34: Few Words, Many Pictures

I am doing well. My week went fast! I feel like yesterday was Monday and I just wrote you all. It’s crazy how fast the time seems to fly sometimes. Nothing too exciting happened this week. It was a very sad day for all of us here in Chile on Saturday because we lost to Brazil in the world cup, so it was our last game. :( Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. I believe that the US is still in, so that’s good!

Soccer World Cup

Hat Day

A Cold Day in July

That's Strange

Fountain

City

Town

Country

Tin Shacks

Week 33: Good and Bad

Some bad things about the week were that my companion and I are struggling to get along, but I feel like we are getting along better each day - so it’s ok. The important thing is that there’s progress! :) Also, on Saturday evening I contacted two guys on the street (normally one of the safest streets in Chillancito). They were fine, but as I was talking to them two more came, then suddenly 2 more, and then 2 more. One drunk tried to grab my companion and give her a kiss. Nobody else was on the street for some reason besides these guys that night, so that made it a bit scarier. Luckily nothing happened and we parted ways safely. Most of the guys were polite enough; just the one was really rude. We were a bit traumatized. I do not like what alcohol does to people.

Some of the good things were that we had a mini-cambio this week, and I was with Hermana Rane in Collao. I loved the experience and learned a lot! Hermana Rane is super nice and she knows a lot, since she is about to end her mission. She only has 3 more weeks left. She was great at giving lessons and contacting people because she was calm, natural, and she really seemed to listen and care about every person she talked to. I want to become more like that. I care about the people, but I’m not very good at talking naturally. I usually come across as a salesperson I think. :( 
My companion and I found some new families in our area that are members. We are excited to help them get comfortable with the church here. One family even has a 12 yr old who is not baptized yet, but wants to be. We are excited to help with that! Maybe I will finally have my 1st baptism. :D We also had a lot of success this week with teaching menos activos with members.  And it was fun to hear all the people excited during the last world cup game. I really hope Chile wins this year. So it overall was a good week!

We had interviews with the Mission president and his assistants (which are two elders) gave a lesson. I really loved the scripture they shared about when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed to God, "Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."  (Luke 22:4)

I love it because it shows that even Jesus, who was perfect, struggled with the challenges that our Heavenly Father allowed Him to suffer. He asked that the weight be lifted, but in the end basically said, I’ll do what you want me to do, because I know it is for the best. I’ve heard the scripture many times, but for some reason, it really hit me this time. I am so grateful for Christ’s perfect example and for the sacrifice He made for us, so that we don’t have to suffer as much as Him. He suffered so that we can feel comforted and not suffer quite so much, and so that we can return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father. What a wonderful thought! :)

Week 32: Illegible Email

this keyboard is horrile!! I have to type soooo low jut to write a essae! So you uys will not e reievig a long eail from me today B/C i a oin to go razy if I stress to muh to write a goo eail. (Ad no, there is no oter computer open, so I ant jut switch to a etter. lame huh? and sooooo aoyig!!!)))

Week 31: Photo's Only

Cute Kids

Soccer World Cup

???

Week 30: Gospel's Powerful Effect

Today was cambios, and I am staying in Chillancito. Woo! I am very happy about that. I don’t feel ready to leave yet. My companion is leaving for Colemu, and Hermana De Leon for Tome. The crazy thing is that the companion of Hermana De Leon, Hermana Tellez (from Nicaragua) is going to be my companion now. There is going to be only one set of missionaries this cambio in Chillancito. This will be my first time in an area with only one set. How strange it will be. I’m glad with the cambios because it won’t be too much change, and Hermana Tellez is nice. Plus, she wants to start running with me. Yay! :D

Monday we got to have a family home evening with the Bishops family. They held a FHE especially for us because they wanted to show their support for the missionaries, and let us know they appreciate our work. It was super nice of them. They are also trying very hard to introduce their friends to the gospel, even if it is hard and slightly uncomfortable. They really want to help us and move the work of the Lord along.

Wednesday we had a special conference just for hermanas! All the sisters in the mission gathered together in Chillan for the conference. I got to visit with my companions from the CCM again, which was fun. :D It was such as great conference, and it was so nice to travel back to Chillan. It has already been four months since I left there. The trees looked like fall, so it was weird to see the city differently.

A lot of the members have been going out of their way this week to give us cakes and fruits, because last Sunday Hermana De Leon almost passed out while she was giving a talk at church. We think it was because of low blood sugar. She didn’t eat breakfast, and was running before church to pick up some investigators so they could walk to church together. The added stress of the talk was probably just the last straw. It was kind of funny though, because so many people rushed to her aid at the pulpit. The members are so good here in Chillancito! :) I love them all!

And here is my spiritual bit of stuff I want to share with you this week. In Alma 31:5 of the Book of Mormon it reads, “And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just--yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.”

I love this scripture because it tells us that the best way we can help the people all over the world with their problems is through the gospel. By helping people come unto Christ we will have success in making the world a better place!