August 19th, 2013

August 19^th 2013

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR!!!!

 I feel it necessary to start off with that. I love you and glad to hear your doing okay in nm! I’m sending you a letter tomorrow. (Because I’m not going in town today)

Any who...I am in Chile! And it is cold.

Okay to be honest the weather is not that bad, but at nights it is freezing. I sleep in sweats a jacket, my down sleeping bag, three giant wool blankets and a heated blanket. It’s great.

But first! The plane ride! I sat next to this guy (who I forgot his name because it was a different name and I have a horrible memory) and he is in college for music and advertising. We got to talking about our lives and eventually my mission and the gospel. He was raised catholic and went to a catholic school growing up but have some doubts about some things. I explained the restoration and the book of Mormon and we read the intro together. Then he read joseph smith history. All of it... then we read Moroni 10 together. It was such a great experience. I don’t know what will happen to this guy but I know he felt the spirit and felt the truthfulness of my message.

NEVER pass by an opportunity to share the gospel. You don’t know who is ready, or who is willing to listen until you get to know them.

Once we got to the mission home we met Presidente y Hermana Arrington. The parents of that sister who served in our ward! We got to the mission home, had a quick interview and testimony meeting and then we met our companions and were off to our area! My companion is elder barker, a bro from Utah. He has been out for a little over a year and I am his first trainee! He’s awesome and I am learning a lot every day.

My first area is in Quillon. A small town in between 2 big cities Chillon and Concepcion (both a little over an hour away by bus) it is a quite little town with a small branch. I am very excited to serve in this area. Already I see the potential for this town and I am eager to help further the work of the Lord in the area.

On my first day we had a lesson with a family the parents’ names are Magdalena and Alvarado and they have 4 kids Maria, Geroldine, Neftlie, and Nickolas! They are such a great family and were sop prepared to hear our message. They have been receiving the lessons for about a month now and they know the book of Mormon is true and that the gospel is true, but they don’t feel ready for baptism. (Just three of the kids can be baptized because the parents are not married and one of the kids is 6) in my broken Spanish I bore my testimony of families and of this gospel and then invited the 3 kids to baptism. They said yes and their baptism goal so for this Saturday! The spirit was so strong in the room and the family (especially the mom) had no dry eyes.

They still are not sure yet about Saturday so we are going to fast with them about it tomorrow!

 For the first 3 days in our house we didn’t have hot water. So what did I do? I didn’t take a shower. There was NO WAY I was going to put my whole naked body under a shower head that was shooting out icicles.  That’s not me. No way.

 I felt a little like Taylor for those three days without bathing.

The food here is great! We have lunch every day with the members I have yet to not enjoy a meal. The only bad thing is that a serving is approximately about how much my whole family eats in a day. I am not fat yet, but I need to watch myself... Chilean bread will be the death of me

Thursday night we were contacting and a sweet old couple let us in to their house! I thought it was great and we were going to have a nice little chat with this old couple and share the gospel. Oh but it wasn’t like that at all. He turned out to be a preacher for the evangelists and was also CRAZY. He told us those 3 days before the earthquake in Chile the voice of God talked to him personally and told him to RUN. I don’t know where he ran for 3 whole days before the earthquake to but apparently that saved his life. Also when we tried to have a closing prayer they started praying and shouting at the same time for like 15 min praising God and confessing their sins. It was pretty...different

Spanish is coming along pretty well. Even though I cannot understand anything. When the Chileans talk it sounds like when you used to rewind a vhs tape...it does not sound like Spanish. BUT I have faith that I will learn it.

This is definitely an adventure for me and I am loving every minute of it, the good times and the hard times. True not the whole two years is going to be fun and easy (actually it is never easy) but every moment is worth it and every moment is a learning experience.

I love you all and wish I had more time to talk to you!