WOW so this week was a little bit unusual!
This last Monday started out kind of sucking, because we had plans to play soccer and buy stuff in the Center of Valparaiso, BUT it was the first of January and everything was closed! Soooo we just bought stuff in a little market and went back to our sectors to write our families.
Right when we finished writing our families and friends, in the house of some members, I got a call from my district leader, and he was like, "Elder, we heard that there is like a fire in your sector or something." And I was like, "Nah I dont think so, but I'll go look." And when I looked out the window everything was dark and I walked outside and saw a HUGE pillar of smoke really close to where we were!! I was like oh crap! Hahaha so once we got some pictures we went back to our apartment, covering our mouths because there was a lot of smoke and ash, We went back out and started helping members and other people take there stuff out of their homes until 8 in the night!
We were in the news if you want to try and look for us hahaha. But that was the big thing that happened this week. Tuesday, all the Elders from my Zone came and we did service where everything was burned.
Now for the spiritual things: We had one investigator go to church and now Gabriel (his name) has a date for baptism for this next Sunday!!! WOOT WOOT! The other date for baptism is Jose who didn't go to church, but already has like a million asistences. And we have lots of plans to work more with the members sooo make sure to pray a lot for us this week!!!! Thanks for all the support and I hope that you all have a great week.
OH, before I go I wanted to share something important: If you don't show your love, than you don't have love. Because it's the same as Faith, if we don't do anything with our faith, then its the same as if we don't have faith. Something that the restored church of Jesus Christ should have is love. If you aren't showing your love then I invite you to look for service or that you do your home-teaching. Thanks for everything! HAVE AN EXCELLENT WEEK! CHAO!
Yesterday was Christmas, but we still had 3 investigators go to church and Rosa got confirmed!!!!!!!!! WOOO HOOOOO! Haha so right now we have three dates for baptism one with Nicol who was supposed to be baptized this week, but she didn't go to church last week so we changed her date to January 7th, Gabriel who is a 14 year old for the same day and finally Jose who is the fiance of a member who lives in the Laguna Verde! Pray lots for these people so that they will be able to progress and reach these goals!
Christmas eve we stayed with the family who lives in the Laguna Verde, and we had a night of cakes and french fries (Because they asked me what I wanted hahaha) They also had an Ex-missionary from Utah there with his wife too so it was fun to see them too. But that's about all that's going on.
I got to talk to the family yesterday which was great haha, and I was thinking about what my grandpa asked me while we were skyping and he asked me what goals do I have for the rest of my mission. I have been thinking about this a lot lately, especially in the person that I want to be after the mission. I want to be someone who is humble but strong. I don't want to go back with the same pridefulness that I left with. I want to be somebody who does lots of service because I love to do it not because I have a calling. I want to take advantage of this time that I have left to grow my testimony and my knowledge so that I can talk with the spirit and help other people get to the truth. I'm so grateful for all your support! Have an excellent week! CHAO!
This week, we had a miracle! Rosa got baptized last Friday!!!! WOOOHOOOOO!!!! It was really cool, because her baptism date was kind of like there in the air for awhile like she really wasn't sure but we had a really good lesson with her Monday and she decided that it was time soooo she was baptized! She will get confirmed next week because we had a stake conference last Sunday. But that is the big news for this week!
We had an activity in Viña today with all the missionaries in the 5th Region so that was fun. I got to see 2 of my old companions! And I also heard that one of my converts in Miraflores got the Melchizedek priesthood!!! They plan on getting sealed in March!!! WOOHOO! BUT that's about all that has been going on. I don't have a lot of time to write today, but I just wanted to give a small update! Have a great week! Thanks for all the support! CHAO!!
We had 3 investigators go to church yesterday, Catalina was confirmed member of the church, and we had twins that are less active go to church!!! WOOHOOOO! Hahaha so this week has been really busy and really fast.
This week is exchanges!! But I think that E. Islas and I will be together for another change. Anyway, we did a service project this past Tuesday with all the Elders from my Zone in the Laguna verde!!! So that was fun, we had a huge BBQ and we cut trees, weeds and cleaned up garbage. And it was the Birthday of my companion. Hes growing up so fast 😂 Hahaha just kidding.
We found lots of new people to teach and we set a date for baptism yesterday with a man who is dating a temple worker!!!!! WOOT WOOT!!! Hahaha thats what we need. More single temple workers that only date non members! Hahaha just kidding.......... ANYWAY, other than that I have been doing good. We played ultimate frisbee today hahaha which was fun. But that's all! Thanks for the emails and support:) CHAO!
Its been a week of finding new investigators, we have 7 new investigators!!! The trick, now, is finding them again hahaha uhhhh 😑. BUT we had three dates for baptism! We are teaching a new convert´s sister and she is willing to go to church and everything, shes just really lazy hahaha. We also found Jazmine and Karina who know basically nothing about Jesus Christ so we have been teaching and helping them, and they are very receptive they just need to go to church!!!! 😭 AHHHH! Make sure to pray for them.
A new family moved to our sector and they are really motivated to work so we have been working with them a lot. They are a huge blessing for this ward. There are over 2000 members here and only 80 that are going to church:P Sooo I hope that it helps.
Something that I have been studying a lot lately is Pride its basically the cause for everything that goes bad in the world: its the way Satan wants to dominate us because that's the way he went from the level of Jesus to the devil. It's the cause of contention. All the fights, grudges, etc.
The way to stop being pride is to recognize it in ourselves first. It's really easy to see it in the people around us but its hard to admit it in ourselves. We need to be humble and trust in god. When we realize that and actively try to improve, we will find happiness even in the hardest of times. But thats what we have been doing this week! Thanks for the support and stuff haha. Have a good Halloween!! CHAO!
This is what I learned from the Conference:
I really liked the talk from Elder Uchtdorf about being grateful. I cant remember exactly what he said but I related it with less active members. Because God gives us sooo much and we get upset when somebody doesn't say hi to us or with the leaders of the church. STUPID THINGS. We just need to be grateful for what we have! He has given us sooooo much. The scriptures, the Book of Mormon in particular, the church, prayer, the Holy Ghost, SOOO MUCH and all we do sometimes is complain. We get soo used to having soo many blessings that we start to forget the diamonds that we are walking on and only look at the pebbles. I loved that part. The way to be active in the church is to never stop being grateful for what you have. And I know that we will be able to find joy even when we have lots of problems.
That was one of the main topics for the conference: Long-suffering with joy. We had a Zone Conference and the President`s wife talked about the difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is for moments and nothing more. Joy is eternal. Its the reward for being faithful in the church. So if you want happiness then do whatever you want. But if you want joy: Follow Christ.
Even when we aren't feeling happiness or we have lots of problems, difficulties, afflictions, trails, etc., we can still find joy, and its by knowing that we have problems to progress and that we have a loving Heavenly Father that will never leave us if we don't leave him. We can only find joy through our faith in Christ and being grateful for everything he gives us. I love you!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!! CHAO-ITO!
