Dear Family,
It was great to hear from all of you! Sounds like you are all enjoying the break and relaxing! But to first start off, Mom and Dad I talked to the zone leaders yesterday and, yes I can use Google Chat. I just tried right now to download it onto this computer I am using, but I got a little confused and I don't know exactly what to do ha ha but if we can get it to work that would be great because I would love to talk to all of you!
And I loved your guys missionary experience this week with the man painting curbs! That is incredible! Way to go! There are a lot of people who are struggling in the world today and they just need the help from the gospel in their lives just like that man! Keep up the great work spreading the gospel! And make sure you call that man to invite him to church!!! And I loved how you said that all you did was ask questions and listened, Mom. There is a chapter in PEM all about that! Questions really help people to open up and share their experiences! Look at you missionary mom! Ha ha! I love hearing stories like that from you guys!
Now onto my last week! Well, first off there were a lot of different meetings and conferences so we didn't have a lot of time to work! But we tried our best! And also Elder Contreras and I are still companions! Woo hoo! Actually in the conference of transfers there were only about 2 changes and then President surprised us all and said that there will be transfers the 30th.
But onto my week! Monday we had a family night with a member in the ward and they are awesome! One of their sons comes along with us a lot and it is great! I really love this ward! Tuesday we found Nestor and José! Nestor we just started talking to in the street and he told us how he doesn't like how preachers preach the word but don't actually live it and are hypocrites. We shared with him the experience of Joseph Smith and how he felt the same way and that really caught his attention and he liked talking to us and shared with us a lot of his beliefs; it was great! And José! It has been really hot here these past couple days and when we were walking we got really hungry and usually we don't like to stop and eat but Elder Contreras told me that he really needed to, so we stopped at this little restaurant place where the guy who was taking our order was José. He first asked us if we knew a girl in our church which we didn't but he started talking to us about how he likes to investigate other churches and would like to listen to our message! Ha ha, it was super easy! We didn't even say anything! Ha ha so the next day we went to his house and read the introduction of the Book of Mormon with him and taught him a little bit of the Restoration. And he just soaked it all up! He thinks that it all makes sense and that it is great to have more of the word of God! And after finishing the introduction we invited him to baptism and he agreed! Ha ha it was great! He is super prepared! And super ready! I am very grateful that the Lord has been blessing us with prepared people right now!
After that lesson we went to our other super prepared investigator Sebastian! Who only lives on the other end of the same street as Jose Greese! We didn't have a lot of time but we taught Sebatian the Doctrine of Christ with lesson 3. He agreed to everything again and is reading and praying every day! It is great! Tuesday night we taught Jenny who is the family who showed up at church and said that they wanted to start coming back to church. Jenny has three kids which two of them are above the age of 8 and haven't been baptized yet! So Tuesday night we invited them to baptism and Gillermo, who is 10, accepted but Angie, who is 11, didn't accept but that is only because she is not familiar with everything. And we know that if we can get her mom reactived in the church then she will be baptized! This family is awesome. Every time we teach them they are all so excited to have the missionaries over and want to read and participate in all the lessons; it is great! Just another example of how the Lord is truly blessing us right now with prepared people! As of right now we have 7 baptism dates! Which is a lot for us! It is great!
Thursday was the conference of transfers and Christmas with the whole mission. But there were only like two transfers because one of the elders that I have gotten closest too and was in my group in the CCM, Elder Cummings, is going home for 8 weeks because he had an injury in his ankle. It was really sad to see him leave, but I know he will be back in February! But then we had the conference for Christmas which was really fun. We played a lot of different games and had a HUGE lunch with the entire zone and had a white elephant exchange which I only received a sewing kit, ha ha, but it was still fun! Then after we had coordinating council with the ward mission leader once we got back into our sector, so we didn't have anytime that day to work!
Friday we taught Valerie and she is still awesome and progressing a lot! We watched the movie "How Rare a Possession" of the man in Italy who found a Book of Mormon but couldn't be baptized until 50 years later. We shared that with her to comfort her with her situation with her job and that she cant attend church. We are praying that in the upcoming year she will be able to change her schedule for her work!
Saturday we had a service for the community of Padre Hurtado where we planted trees in the neighborhoods. But the place was really bad, ha ha. It is in the poorest part of Padre Hurtade and we planted trees in straight rocks and dirt! Ha ha! I don't know how those trees will survive but it was great to help the community out! But it was forever, though! The service was from 10 in the morning to about 4 in the afternoon. And I remembered to put sunscreen on my face and arms but forgot to put some on my legs. . .so my calfs right now are fried and just super red! Actually it looks really funny! Ha ha it reminds me of that time when Trevor fell asleep in the sun and burned his legs! Ha ha! I have pictures but this computer is acting up a little bit so I'm not sure if I will be able to send them this week! Saturday night the Relief Society had an idea to gather all the sisters and come along with us to at least three of our investigators to sing Christmas carols to the families and to give them desserts! It was great! We went to Ana, Felipe, and Marta y Hugo. It was great for Ana to meet some more sisters and friends in the ward. But we got rejected from Marta and Hugo just because we didn't accept the tea in the last lesson. It was really dumb and they over reacted way too much, but I am really sad that they don't want anything to do with the Mormons now just because of a cup of tea. It is truly sad that they missed out on the true happiness and for their salvation just over a cup of tea!
Sunday we taught José Grau the less active with the memory loss problem, but he is always tired when we come and never reads or prays so it is a little frustrating with him right now. But I made a mistake last week, his son doesn't have schizophrenia! I don't know why I thought that, but his son has autism! And that is why it is really difficult to teach him! But then we started knocking doors and we found a family of gold! It was great! It's Marcela, Margarita, and Felipe who let us in because of the hot weather and we started talking about the Book of Mormon and they were all so interested in it! And accepted to be baptized if they receive a answer that the book is true! So we have more baptism dates and more prepared investigators! It is such a blessing!
Sunday night there was a stake priesthood meeting with the stake presidency, but the turn out was really sad. Out of the entire stake only 30 men showed up. But out of those 30, 25 were from my ward! Ha ha I love my ward! But each person who taught, talked about missionary work and it was great! And we had a little surprise afterward! There was an activity after the meeting as a stake to watch the Christmas devotional! So that was great to watch that!
I am super grateful for all the blessings and investigators that we have right now! The Lord is truly blessing us right now and it is great!! And for the information about Skype or Google Chat. We are planning on skyping on Christmas at 4 to 6 Chilean time. An hour for me and an hour for my companion! So I think that Chile is 4 hours ahead so I think that means about 12 on Christmas I should be calling! Is that okay? We can really skype whenever so if you have another time just let me know! But I have to go! I love you all and thank you for your letters! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
Love,
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