Turnaround times

Another week went by here in San Felipe. It's so pretty here I love it. In the day I wear short sleeve but at night with a sweater and a coat it's still cold. I'm getting a long great with my comp. Even after two years I'm still learning new chilean words and slang. 

This week one of the seventy came to our mission to speak to us. It was Walter Gonzalez who's also president of the area of south america south. My favorite part was at the end he answered questions that we had. Someone asked him a question about the atonement. He said there is a lot of things to say about it and we cannot understand everything. But he talked a little about the power and mercy Christ has towards us. He didn't say anything new, but it was so convincing. It made me really want to be like that someday.

It felt like for almost the whole week we had bad luck with just about every visit falling through. Nobody had time and it seemed like nobody really cared which was honestly a little frustrating. But literally the next day (Sunday) everything just seemed to click and we found 3 really good families. That has happened so much to me on my mission, where everything seems to be going bad and without really understanding why or how, after a little bit of time things all work out great. I always think that's the story of the mission but maybe that's the story of life. Just be patient and keep the faith because everything will all work out great. Dad always says things can be hard for a long time and turn around in one day.  There is alot of truth to that.  Just hold on with a positive attitude until its turnaround time. 

I've thought a lot about why enduring to the end is so important in the gospel. I think when we endure to the end we allow divine help to humble and shape us into the person who god desires us to be. Or in other words who we really desire to be. God makes the change in his timetable little by little we just need to be open and humble for his grace.

Sorry for the sermon :) a lot of emotions and a lot of meditation as the end comes closer. I'm so grateful for these two years and the things I've experienced. Have a great week!

San Felipe

I'm so glad to hear that Paul had a good birthday and that Luke won his Hershey track! That's dope!

First week in San Felipe.

It was a really good week here. It's strange trying to get used to a sector when you know you are only going to be there for one change, but oh well. I get a long really well with my comp Elder Espinoza. 3 three things you should know about him.

1. He's my first Chilean comp which is awesome I wish I could've been with him longer so he could teach me all the Chilean words but it's chill. He speaks english pretty fluently. In the house we speak straight English and he is set on studying at BYU. He thinks Im helping him, but really he's making the last few weeks of my mission so easy and sweet. 

.2. He's one of the lucky few that got to serve on Easter Island.

3. He has a guitar and jams out on it. He knows how to play so well.

Anyways I also got a chance to do an interchange with Elder Pagano from new Mexico and it was a total blast. He literally lives in the farthest sector from santiago. Actually his sector is closer to the beach than to Santiago. He has a convert that gives sushi to the missionaries every thursday so it was awesome to go there on a thursday :) but seeing the relationship between him and his convert was really special. That is for sure the best part about missionary work. The relationships we make helping people join the gospel. Im still mourning the loss of Roberto and his family.  Im amazed how dear this family became to me.

Last note. I have been overwhelmed with feelings of peace and satisfaction about the last two years.  I feel like I did what I wanted to do.  I wanted to know god better, see his people as he sees them, break my heart down and be humble and follow him as a child would follow his father.  I have seen mercy, felt amazing grace, and in quiet moment of walking the dusty chilean roads I feel this overwhelming peace and joy for the amazing people I have met and what I have gained here.  I might be the luckiest missionary in the world.  

That's it with me. Just trying to love and enjoy this last little bit. I hope everybody has a great week. 

Last transfer

What's good fam. This last week was my last week in esmeralda and it was a sad but special one. It was a lot harder saying bye to people than I thought that it would. On thursday we got a phone call telling us that they were going to transfer both of us and put in new missionaries in our sector. It caught us off gaurd so much.  We talked with a kid named david a few times this week. He's 17 and is really cool and always happy. We read moroni 10: 3-5 and he got really interested in that. That night he said a prayer, and even though he didn't recieve what he was expecting, he said it was a good experience and good after praying. He also told us he felt a little stressed out because they have like no money and his birthday is this week and he needed some new clothes. I gave him most of the clothes I have because I'm not going to be here for that much longer. He was really happy about it. We taught an english class but the only people that went were paula (roberto's wife) and her kids. They were actually way interested taking a bunch of notes and asking us to say things in english so that they could record it and practice the pronuciation later. We had found out that we were leaving the day before but we didn't have the guts to tell them that they we were leaving. Afterwards they said they wanted us to say a prayer in english to end. You guys have to promise not to tell anybody but I started crying in the prayer. I said they don't know we're leaving and they don't understand what I'm saying but maybe someday they'll really understand how much we really love them and that we just wanted him to take care of this family and keep guiding them. It was one of the best moments of my whole mission. On sunday we made breakfast again for Roberto and the fam. We made french toast, and once again another miracle took place because they actually really liked them. After church we went over to their house to do skype. It was so good to see the family one last time on skype. I'm also way glad to hear that my mom had a good mothers day. She definitely deserved it. Yesterday I got my new comp and my new sector. I'm here in San Felipe, it's the farthest zone from santiago. In a bus it would be like an hour and a half to get to santiago. It is honestly so pretty here. My comp is Elder Espinoza from chile. Finally I got a chilean comp, too bad I'll only be with him for one change. I love you guys have a wonderful week. PAUL HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK  Kevin R. Duncan  Brothers and sisters, in the competitions of life, if we win, let us win with grace. If we lose, let us lose with grace. For if we live with grace toward one another, grace shall be our reward at the last day.

Traffic Cop Training

It's a super nice day here in Chile. This is the last week of the change and I'm praying like crazy we don't have changes.

The sector we have is huge. This last friday we went out to the farthest part of the sector to meet an investigator. We took a taxi thing that's called colectivo for 45 minutes to get there. It was the most incredible thing I had ever seen. It was SO green. We went to his house and he wasn't there but honestly it was worth the experience.

On Saturday we had English class. On our way to the class we got a flat tire (of course we did!) and had to run. We sprinted to the chapel to find... nobody. We were there at the chapel with the keys so we tried to take people on a tour of the church but nobody wanted it. For a little bit we were pretending to lead traffic and direct people in the church parking lot.  We were trying to act exhausted by the droves of people coming to tour the church but no one bit.  It didn't work although a lot of people thought it was funny.

Roberto and his family went to church. We went early to his house Sunday morning and brought them breakfast. Seriously who can refuse a hot breakfast made by me?  They actually liked the pancakes that we made which was a miracle. At church they were friends with everybody. Honestly they are the coolest, warmest, friendliest family of all. We're really happy for them.

We gave blessings to an entire family after the parents recently were divorced and was honestly one of the most sacred moments of my mission. It was so nice to feel they were being taken care of even in such a hard situation. God loves us all the time.  But I learned during those blessings he is the closest he will ever be when we are completely broken.

 Isaiah 41:10  “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

Love  you family! 

Green Hill far away

We had another good week here in Colina. It's starting to get pretty cold here but that's good. We have all sorts of problems on our bikes, but oh well ha. It ended up actually being a pretty good thing because I'm a lot more used to walking and knocking doors than riding on bike. I'll start with Roberto. He recently found a new job so he is a little bit harder to find now a days but he is still progressing really well. He worked saturday night but still wanted to go to church the next day but couldn't because he had to work a little longer. Anyways we taught him plan of salvation and he really liked it. All of his neighbors love him, he is just a really solid guy. The branch president is working like crazy. He gave us some families to visit and we talked with all of them. He's got a good vision and we are trying everything to work with him and help the branch. Elder Mackay is so great. We get along perfectly. I really hope we can be together for one more change. We found this awesome green hill the other day so that's the plan for this p day to go hike up there. Dieter F. Uchtdorf But perhaps there is a different metaphor that can explain why we obey the commandments of God. Maybe obedience is not so much the process of bending, twisting, and pounding our souls into something we are not. Instead, it is the process by which we discover what we truly are made of.

More similar than we think

This week there was a ton of rain. Where I'm at it wasn't too bad, but a lot of santiago got flooded. 

The highlight of this week was definitely Roberto and his family. The lessons with them are so awesome because all the family gets together in a smaller room and there is always such a special feeling. They were going to go to a family night in the church but there was too much rain. Sunday morning they all got ready and got in their car to leave to church but the car wouldn't start. At least the intention was there, right? In our last lesson Roberto told us that his whole life he feels like he has been searching, and he feels that he is beginning to find what he has always been looking for. 

Our branch president is a total superman. He is working like crazy trying to raise church attendance. He interviewed three young men and set goals for them to go and serve a mission. There has been a lot of changes here in the branch but it looks like everything is falling right into place.

We had a cool experience when we talked with a man that was Islamic. We asked him a lot of questions and learned a lot about him. After listening to him I learned that we are a lot more similar than we think. The base is that god loves us and we pray to him for help and guidance.

A priesthood holder came in. He knelt down, blessed some bread, and handed her a piece. She ate it. He knelt down again and blessed some water and handed her a small cup. She drank it. Thereafter, Diane had two thoughts in rapid succession: First, “Oh, he [the priesthood holder] did this just for me.” And then, “Oh, He [the Savior] did this just for me.” Dale Renlund 

I love you guys have a great week!

Last testimony

For the first time in a while it rained this morning. It's started to get a little cold here.  On thursday we had a zone conference. It was good to hear from president and his wife. At the end of every zone conference the missionaries that are leaving give their last testimony. I couldn't believe that this last conference was our turn. It was so awesome hearing the testimonies of all the friends that I came here with. But also the date was strange giving a last testimony with so much time still left. Oh well. On friday I had an interchange with Elder Clarine. It was way too fun. We ended up teaching a lot of good people that day. He's been in his ward for a little time now and everyone their loves him. He is such a good friend and being in the same district as him makes the mission a whole lot better. On sunday the plan was to go to church with our investigator nicholas. He is 18 years old and is so awesome. I think I talked a little about him the last time. He lived up by antofoghasta and went to the church a lot there, and reciently moved to colina. Anyways we live pretty far from the church and the plan was to meet forty five minutes early to walk to church. We called him and he was still sleeping but said he wanted to go. So we waited and ended up only being like six minutes late to church. But when we got to church we saw that our president was sitting in the stand. It was the worse luck. He ended up kind of getting on our case, but it was a good thing because we were also able to talk about some other important stuff going on in our sector. We are teaching the most special family of all time. We've met with them a few times and all of them are really receptive. The mom is less active and her husband and four kids are investigators. The dad, roberto, started off being a little hestitant but has really opened up and is really considering everything. For example he refused to pray at the beginning but now at the end of lessons we pray on our knees and he says the prayer. On our way to their house me and mackay both got the feeling to change the lesson plan to alma 7 and talk about the atonement and baptism. He didn't commit to a date but said he would really think about it. He also said we made him really want to read the book of mormon so that was good.