A beautiful painting

We had a week long battle with the heat here. I guess I can't complain too much because I know there are missionaries in places that are a lot hotter, but this week was pretty rough. Despite the heat, we were still able to have a really good week.

Yesterday I went with the missionaries from my group to do some stuff for our visa. But my process was a little different. I guess some of my papers had gotten lost and I had been here illegally for a few days. Good news is I got everything figured out and I'm legal again!

Our ward mission leader is a total stud. He finished his mission two years ago and is really focused and determined to help us. He's helping us out a bunch with the members and with coming to visits with us. We have a lot of good goals together.

We're teaching a haitian named Youri. He lives with a chilean family and is learning spanish. He has a book in french and is constantly reading it. He has been to church a lot and really likes it. The only thing is that it's a little complicated trying to teach him because he doesn't understand very well. The last time we taught him we were using google translate and it actually ended up working pretty well.

Fabiola didn't want to go to church with us because she said that her little kid behaves too bad and she feels embarrassed. We were trying everything telling her not too worry that he's just a little kid and that everyone is used to little kids running around. She finally said yes, but when we went to pick her up for church she told us again that it wasn't worth it. 

Other than that things are pretty normal here. The other day I was reading what I had written in my journal. Almost everyday honestly not very many groundbreaking things seem out of the ordinary, but over time all of the small moments work together and build on each other and make such a beautiful painting.

Romans 13

 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Saved by the fire hose

I'm bummed out I wasn't able to see Emma's farewell! but it sounds like she did a great job which doesn't surprise me at all. This week was a pretty average, but we ended it really well!

One of our investigators two sundays ago totally surprised us by saying he wanted to get baptized. He has been investigating the church for 14 years and we thought he was joking. But he wasn't, he was totally serious. He had gotten married that week and said that that was the ONLY thing that was holding him back from getting baptized. He told us that he wanted to get baptized before church. We set everything up for him to get baptized at 8:00.

The problem was that we had a big miscommunication with filling up the baptismal font. We got there thirty minutes early and there was no water. It usually takes three hours to fill up. So we started filling it up. We found two buckets and were filling one up and sending the other to the font so that it would fill up faster. But it was going so slow, and Cèsar was getting super impatient about it. 

We said a prayer because honestly we had no idea what to do. When we finished the prayer we walked over to the font. As we were walking somebody noticed that there was a fire hose in the church. I have no idea how we didn't realize there was a huge red fire hose. Anyways the font filled up like in five minutes with the hose. The best part was right after getting baptized Cèsar shouted "I'm finally pure!" It was pretty funny but also very touching. A good witness that the family draws the very best out of us.

 My comp is a super cool dude. He is practicing his english a ton and speaks super well. Things are going great here.

Have a great week!

James E Faust

As we pray we should think of our Father in Heaven as possessing all knowledge, understanding, love, and compassion.

Unseen work

This week we had transfers. We found out that Elder Navarro was going to leave on Saturday. Sunday we went around and said bye to everybody. It was cool to see how close people got to him. He is a great missionary and a great friend.

One of our investigators Fabiola went to church for the first time on Sunday. We had a really good lesson with her. It didn't start off very well. She is a little hard to read and it's hard to know what she needs. While we were teaching the question came out right before falling asleep at night, what do you think about? I'm not sure why but the question brought out everything. She explained to us about her work and her family. She seemed really relieved getting everything out. She was carrying alot of stress and worries and doesn't have alot of people to talk to. There was a really sweet feeling in her house that night. This is really the unseen work of my mission that is so rewarding. 

She came to church with us on Sunday with her little boy. I've seen a lot of kids act roudy during the sacrament, but I have never seen a little kid as crazy as him. He was jumping off of the stairs onto his soccer ball and completely eating it, and laughing as loud as he could each time he did it. It was actually really funny. The ward was super nice to her and made sure she felt comfortable.

My new comp is Elder Mostacero from Lima Peru. He is super awesome and were going to have a great change.

Love you guys have a great week!

Because I love you guys

Yesterday I gave a talk in church. Saturday morning they asked me if I could give a talk. I didn't have that much time to prepare but it ended up not being too bad. I wrote my talk but didn't take it up with me because I wanted not to worry too much about the words and just say what I really felt. I kind of had a brain freeze a couple of times stalling not really knowing what to say, but I was happy with it.

This was a really good week in terms of teaching. I don't think I have had a week like this week. We got into almost every house that we knocked. We studied a lot together, practicing teaching the first time we meet somebody. So it was awesome to actually put it into practice. We met this guy named hèctor. When we knocked on his door he told us that he had been waiting for missionaries and wanted to get baptized. His intentiones are awesome but he has some issues with word of wisdom. He has two adorable little daughters so we'll see how it goes with him. Pray for Hector.

On friday we got a call and the first thing she said to us was that she had something urgent to tell us. She told us that her daughter decided to seperate from her husband and that she had been crying all night and needed help. We went over to her house not really sure what to say or what to do. On our way walking to her house my comp said to me it might be a good idea just to listen, and after sing hymns with her. I never would have thought of that because I have a terrible voice and my comp believe it or not might have a worse voice.  Inflicting that kind of torture on someone doesnt feel natural. But that is exactly what we did. We got there, she spilled a lot of stuff to us, and after we sang her favorite hymns. It was such a special lesson, something I'll never forget.

We've been passing by almost everybody in our area book. I think the main reason I heard this week of why they quit listening to the missionaries was because the missionaries were too worried about doing what they wanted, and not listening or caring about them. It made me think of this quote I heard that is something like He that serves unselfishly has very little competition. 

One last little story that has to go along with that. We had a problem with our toilet (again! seriously! its a curse)  so the office sent someone to come and fix it. The man that came and fixed it was an older man. He noticed that our bathroom wasn't super clean so he asked for cleaning stuff to clean the bathroom and we gave it to him. We were kind of worried and embarrassed he was going to chew us out or tell us he was going to tell our president about it. He came out and he said I cleaned your bathroom! Do you know why?  And we were like uhhhhhh no. And he said BECAUSE I LOVE YOU GUYS, with a huge smile. It was a cool experience.

Dieter F. Uchtdorf        Since the beginning of time, love has been the source of both the highest bliss and the heaviest burdens. At the heart of misery from the days of Adam until today, you will find the love of wrong things. And at the heart of joy, you will find the love of good things.

And the greatest of all good things is God.

Craziest week

This past week was the craziest week of my mission. I ended this week with four different companions. With some special changes and an Elder getting put in Easter Island, I ended up getting changed around quite a bit.

On Tuesday I was put into a trio with Elder Roper from American Fork and Elder Sandoval from Chile. I now understand why missionaries aren't in trios unless it's absolutely necessary. It was crazy! I was thinking about it and it was one of the funnest moments of my mission and honestly in my life. We had a bunch of good talks and actually a few really good lessons. And we laughed a ton!

On Thursday I got a call that told me I was going back to Conchalì again. I'm still here in Conchalì with Elder Navarro from Colombia. I'm super glad to be with him. He's awesome. He is from Colombia and is just simply happy. His sector is golden. 

Hebrews 12

 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I love you family!  Have a great week.

Peacegivers

This was a little bit of a slower week. In my mission I've found that -at least in my mission, it's fairly easy to knock on a door, start a conversation, and have them invite you into their house. It's part of the culture here. But it's really hard to go back a few days later and do the same thing and they let you in. :) So we've been thinking and studying in preach my gospel about what we could do. Something that really caught our attention was to share personal experiences with people the first visit you have with them. We had two really good lessons applying this idea.

The first one was with a family, and the father or husband had recently passed away. We didn't worry too much about teaching anything and just listened. Obviously I have no idea what is happening in their lives but we both shared something short trying our best to show them that we weren't salesman trying to sell a product, but that what we had really could give them the peace they needed to keep going. I actually had a personal confimation in my own heart that we werent selling anything or trying to get numbers, but we were there to heal and lift this grieving family.

The other was with an older man named Juan. When we first went in he told us that he was mad at god. He went on to tell us a few questions that he has. Instead of trying to share a scripture that could possibly answer his doubts, we both told him that we also don't know everything. And that we both have experiences searching and finding knowledge and comfort that we need.

Sorry for being a little preachy but one more thing. We always tell our investigators that they need to pray meditate and read the Book of Mormon to know if its true. After reading it a little closer Moroni tells us what we need to meditate.  that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. There is something so healthy about thinking and meditating about the good and positive things about life that god gives to us

James Q. Wilson (professor from UCLA)

Commencement speakers are supposed to urge you to rise to the highest challenge, pursue the impossible dream, excel at the loftiest ambitions. I will not do that. It is too easy; it is too empty. The easiest thing to do is to support great causes, sign stirring petitions, endorse grand philosophies. The hardest thing to do—and it is getting harder all of the time—is to be a good husband, a good wife, a strong father, a strong mother, an honorable friend and neighbor.

La Rioja

Our first week in La Rioja was a good one! Elder Guelet has only been here one change and I just got here so we did a little exploring and meeting new people but we ended up having a really good week. 

On New Years eve we didn't work at night and ate dinner with one of the families from the ward. There is one other pair of missionaries here, Elder Roper from American Fork and Elder Sandoval from Chile. We all get a long really well. Every day we eat lunch together. New years eve we had to go home at the normal time and I ended up just falling asleep before 12:00 and didn't see any of the fireworks. Oh well, next year I can party better.

I love the ward here. Everyone is super close and friendly. This is one of the bigger wards that I have been in. We worked a bunch this week and found had some luck finding new people. A lot of hope and potential in our sector, so I'm really happy about that.

Today we played soccer and ate a bunch of completos together. We went over to simon bolivar to do it and it was awesome to go back and walk on those streets again. I really loved that sector.

I love you guys! Happy new years!

Luke 15

 1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

 23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:

 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.