Week 6 of a Six Week Transfer

Dear all, I write you this week a tad bit sore! haha. We played some soccer today. Hopefully you'll be able to receive some pictures that I'll try to attach. It was pretty sweet and I scored a pretty nasty goal. haha. I had to buy new tennis shoes though cuz I might have gifted my other ones away to a less active joven (young man). Other than that, this week was pretty average. This week will be the last week of the transfer so you will all find out if I'm leaving next week when I'm already there... I think. haha, I'm not really sure how this mission works yet, everything is pretty weird. We were able to find a bunch of new investigators and a lot of them accepted the baptismal invitation and even accepted a specific date to be baptized, but unfortunately our investigators struggled against the monster that is the sheets on Sunday morning and unfortunately we didn't have anyone attend church with us as far as investigators go. We have however, been able to help quite a few less actives attend church. I think the less actives are what are keeping me sane, because we've really struggled with getting people to attend church with us. The best was that our ward mission leader (who is actually a less active due to his work schedule) took us to a less active who wasn't on the ward list and we actually ended up finding out that he was married and has a young girl. We talked with his wife and she told us about how she was baptized in another part of chile where they had moved, but that she had just come up this past week to visit her husband, John Paul. We ended up inviting her to tell John Paul about basketball the next day that we play with investigators on Saturday morning and they both ended up coming and they came on Sunday. I guess they don't have any set plans, but they're seeing if they'll move back down south or what, because John Paul came back up here after a while because he never found work in the south. We are hoping that they will stay and that we'll be able to share with the man that they are living with who is a "wizard." haha. We met him and he was pretty cool and said he was excited to talk about baptism with us. Should be fun if we can teach him this week. Anyways, enjoy the pics. One is a flower that was at a house that looked super trippy, the other is a spider in our apartment... grr!! and the last of the zone of Illapel at our church after playing soccer. Love you all! thanks for your support! Have a good week and please go to church :) haha.

P Day

All, This week was a pretty good week here in Illapel. We're still battling with our investigators trying to help them to attend church, but we've met some great people lately so I know we'll start seeing some results from our work soon. I have been learning a lot about sacrifice and patience. I suppose anyone who would have a mission time spanning 3 years from when it started to when it would end would learn those things. haha. The other day I read about Abraham and Isaac, which is a story that has always intrigued me and taught me a lot. I found the following scripture- D&C 101:4-5 4 Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son. 5 For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified." His test was so interesting, and he proved worthy. The Lord knows all things from the beginning and knew that Abraham had enough faith to do what he was going to do, but I believe the Lord allowed him to get to the point of sacrificing his son so that Abraham could learn and grow and see how much faith he really had in the Lord. So as we pass through our trials I believe we can learn something important from the trial of Abraham. Sometimes we are tested to get stronger and also so that we can look back later and say, "wow, I didn't know I really had that much faith." or "Look how far I've come" We all have to pass through the refiner's fire at some point to be sanctified. Just something to chew on for the kiddos. :) Anyways, we had a great lesson with a lady named Karina and her mom, Orina this past week. We found them shouting (that's how you knock outside a gate, you shout haaallloooo). They accepted the Restoration really well and had already read Alma 40 from the contact we did with her before the appointment and understood it really well. We're excited to see their progress this week and to help them to attend church on Sunday. Other than that I took a 2 day trip to Los Vilos (another area in the zone which is by the beach and is thus a lot cooler in temperature) because my comp had a leadership meeting in Viña. I was with a new missionary and it was pretty good. Anyways, on the way home we were waiting at the bus terminal for our roughly hour long bus ride when a car pulled up and it ended up that it was a councilor to a mission president in a place called Rancagua, which is close to Santiago. He said David Archuleta is serving in his ward. haha. Anyways, he agreed to drive us home. It was a great favor and allowed us to work for an hour that evening. He and his wife then returned on Sunday and took us to lunch! hahahaha, it was so funny. They took us to some really nice restaurant, but it was really funny cuz it was Sunday. They were super nice and it was a great favor, because they came from another area in our zone named Salamanca on Sunday which is about an hour drive away because they had gone their for the wife's mother's funeral. The Lord blessed us with a tender mercy. Anyways, love you all! Shame on the siblings for not writing in 2 weeks other than Colesters. haha. Have a good week! Eat some turkey and play some football!

Otra semana

All, Not too much to say today! Haha. Just a forewarning, mostly for Josh. This week was pretty rough as far as investigators and visible results go. We taught and then invited 15 people to go to church and 13 just straight up told us no... haha. I guess we'll have to keep looking for people that are willing to act and not just listen. Other than that.... oh! I just remembered, the worst part about Chile- PULGAS! Or in other words, fleas! grrr... they make me so mad. They're everywhere and recently they've been loving getting in my bed with me at night and so my sheets are acquiring some blood spots because they like chewing on my feet. The bites are pretty itchy all the time, but oh well, I think I'm getting used to it. Haha. Oooh, I just remembered a story! haha. This past week we went up this hill to these houses that the people just kind of built on some land and we talked to some people and then a dog came up from behind us so we started walking down the other way and basically there were houses on the right and a really steep hill with bushes on the left. So as we were walking forward all of a sudden like 6 dogs came in front of us! ahh... haha... So my comp decided to charge forward with his book of Mormon in hand and fended them off and then he saw a little path down the steep hill so he jumped down with me hot on his heels fending of the dog behind us with my book. I just jumped off the little ledge and kept waving my book at the dogs for a second and then ran down... luckily they were afraid of the steep hill and didn't follow us. hahaha, it was pretty funny. Other than that, not much stories and our investigators are struggling. Hopefully we can get the young couple Lillian and Fabian to church this week... Lillian is just struggling cuz she likes staying out late on Saturday nights with her friends or something. Anyways, love ya'll. Keep me in your prayers! Have a good week and try and brighten up someone's day this week :) Love!

No hay chiles en Chile

Dear all loved ones everywhere, First off check this out- http://misionvinadelmar.blogspot.com This week went pretty well here in Illapel. I particularly enjoyed our long walks (about 30 min) to our area amongst the hilly Chilean countryside. The cows even sounded to greet us more cheerfully this past week. hahaha, ok ok ok, but really it was a pretty good week. Our investigators struggled to go to church, but we did manage to help a less active family attend. They're great and I'm learning some sign language because one of the sons is deaf (he's about 20). Hopefully they'll be able to keep showing an example so that their husbands get involved with the church (they won't meet with us currently). On Halloween (which is kind of new here, but is celebrated and the kids go knocking doors), we went to a bonfire and the members shared scary stories, it was pretty fun. Today in the morning we also traveled to Salamanca, about 45 min away, where the rest of our District is at and we made tacos and played basketball and soccer for a bit. It was epic. I'll try and attach some photos, but some of you have been having issues receiving them according to the rejection emails I get back from your email providers. Other than that, I'm running out of time. I love you all mucho! Questions brought to you by Rach: How is Chile? It is good. I'm in a part really far away from everything right now, and it is getting hotter each day. haha, at least our hills aren't as big as some in the mission. Do you like it better or worse than Argentina? Haha, umm, I dunno, they're 2 really different places, but alike in many other ways. I like and dislike things about both I suppose. What the heck happened with your companion? He fainted and fell, we think it is cuz we ate a lot of meat and his blood sugar went down because he is a little hyper glycemic? yeah... Is he healthy now? Haha so weird. He is just chipper, with a nice scabby. Anywho, love you all! Have a great week, you're always in my prayers :)