Gotta Love the Under Dogs

Hey Fam,

I just want to start out by telling you how much I love each one of you and thank you for the great impact you have each had in my life. I learn so much from each of you!

We had a crazy day on Saturday. President Bluth gave us permission to watch the Brazil v. Chile World Cup game. We went and watched the second half at a member’s house. It was crazy. The whole country stopped breathing during those penalty kicks. It is probably a good thing they lost because we would not have been able to do any work this week if they had won. I can’t even begin to imagine the celebration if they had knocked off the host country in the last minute. Pretty crazy. I did enjoy that game, it was one of the most intense situations I have ever seen. Gotta love the under dogs. I’ve got to hand it to the goalie of Brazil. Talk about some pressure. 

This week went pretty well. We moved the P family’s baptismal date up to this week, so hopefully they will be baptized on Saturday. One of the sons didn’t come to church yesterday and doesn’t know if he wants to get baptized. Elder M and I are going to go talk to him today. Please pray for him. We think he is nervous to change because his dad isn’t quite sure it is true. Even though the dad supports the family one hundred percent in their decision. 

I don’t know if I mentioned this last week but we are also teaching a new family.  They are great. We met the wife first and she said she felt really good when we left. Then we met her husband later. This guy scared me pretty bad when I first met him. He is a security guard at a retail store. He has a shaved head and a beard. He also has a big scar under his right eye and has got some pretty big muscles. But he is a really nice guy. They have three little girls. I have high hopes for them. 

I also want to thank Claire for her example with her friend from Japan. That letter from her friend brought me to tears when I read it. Thank you for being such an amazing person Claire. I am so grateful to have you as a sister and so grateful we are so close. Sorry I haven’t written back to thank you. We all have so much to learn from your example. 

I love you all tons and hope you are doing well I also wanted to check up to make sure Grace is reminding everyone to pray for me. I need them! Thanks!! love you tons! 

The Work and The World Cup

Hey, I hope you are all doing well!

We are in the mall right now and it is dead. Chile is playing the Netherlands in the World Cup and everyone is huddled around TVs in the sports bars. We will see if the mall explodes in the next half hour if they score. It is more calm here than in some other parts of Chile. Here we have permission to watch the game and we watched the first half while we were eating lunch in a restaurant today. Every ten minutes you can hear all of Chile go, “Ahhhhhh!!!” when they get close to making a goal.

I have had a pretty good week. We are working hard. I am very excited because the P family is doing very well. They came to Stake Conference yesterday and the mother commented that she has noticed a difference in her boys lately. She opened the door to us because she felt like they lacked something and she needed help keeping them grounded. The gospel will help them so much. Yesterday it was their son B’s birthday. We bought a cake on Saturday and took it over with the youth on Sunday. It turned into a good experience for the P family and the youth. The youth shared their testimonies about how the gospel has changed their lives. Three of them were recent converts who have been members for less than a year. Then two of the young women offered to do the dishes, which was a really nice gesture. I was happy because I think those two young women really learned something as well as they served. Elder M and I were also a little worried about the dad because he has not been listening to us and has deep Catholic roots. Yesterday we asked his wife how he was doing and she said that he has been listening to the Book of Mormon more than anyone in the family. She said that he is re-reading chapters. She has also woken up in the middle of the night to hear him listening to it. He commented to her that he knows that it couldn’t have been written by men and is inspired. I think it will only be a matter of time. I was so happy to hear that.

We got two new elders in the house this week Elder H from Colombia and Elder Q from Mexico City. Elder Q is being trained by Elder U. He is a great guy and we are already good friends. Elder H is really great too.

We had a great stake conference this week and it was sunny most of the week so we are doing pretty well.

Some thoughts I had this week were actually about dad’s talk a couple of months ago in ward conference. I was thinking about how through small, simple actions of service to others we can receive spiritual strength. I think sometimes I get too caught up in studying and need to do a better job actually applying what I am studying.

I am doing well and hope you are all well! I hope mom had a great B day and you guys did something fun!

Believe

We had changes today and I will be staying here in Los Angeles with Elder M. I am happy. I really like this place. This is Elder M’s last change, so I know I can settle in for a little while. Elder E,  one of my companions from Loncoche, just got called as a zone leader as well. So that is pretty cool!

It was a pretty good week. On Friday, we had a huge conference with the entire mission. It was our last conference with President Martinez. It was really great to see all of the missionaries there and to hear from President. He asked us to believe. I really liked that, to just believe. So I am working on that. He also announced that he will be living in the ward where I am serving for a while with his mother-in-law, while he is building his house. So that is pretty crazy. Even crazier, we found his mother-in-law the next day when we were out contacting. I guess she isn’t a member. It sounds like they are going to distance themselves from the missionaries so that they don’t have influence as our new President begins. They are such great people! 

After the conference, Chile was playing in the world cup so we couldn’t really go out and work. President said it would be dangerous because of the celebrations if they won. These people are crazy for their soccer down here. Pretty much everything shuts down for the games. Hopefully they will win. It would be pretty cool to be here if they do. 

The P family is progressing they came to church again last week even though the mom was a little sick. They want to get baptized. But we are really hoping that the dad will come. He hasn’t come to church yet and we haven’t taught him for a while. We also made contact with the D family this week we haven’t seen them for a while, but they seem excited. The parents came to church and they invited us to have a barbeque with them on Wednesday for lunch so that is good. 

 I also found out that one of the couples we found and were teaching in Loncoche got baptized on Saturday. I was super excited! They got married and everything for it.

I am doing well, I was a little sick yesterday but am doing much better today.

Happy Birthday mom I love you tons! Thank you for always being there for me. You are amazing!

Happy Father’s Day Dad as well! You are the best!

I feel so blessed to have such great parents! 

Rain, Snow and Baptisms

Today started off really great! We had a great time at the Volcanoe Antuco this morning playing in the snow. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my entire life. Absolutely gorgeous, and we were blessed with a clear day.  It is so nice to get up in the mountains to clear your head and get away for a few moments. 

Oh, the temptation 

This week was really so great. We had a huge baptismal service and it was really amazing to see some of these families get baptized. They are wonderful people. I am very happy for Y. She has gone through some big changes and it is amazing to see how the gospel changes people. She has gone through some tough stages. It has also been wonderful to see how much the ward has come together with all of these baptisms. They are 100 percent focused on retention. 

This week Elder M and I found a great family, the P family. Both of the parents are blind and they have two sons. They are good kids. They came to church on Sunday and really enjoyed it so I am very happy for them and hope they will keep progressing.

It rained, and rained, and rained this  week. I think I experienced my first bit of a real Chilean winter. It is pretty darn cold and you are always wet. Thanks for all the great stuff mom! Miracles happen in the rain though so that is pretty great. 

This week as I was struggling I thought about the valley boys once again and found a lot of comfort in thinking about those boys crossing the icy river. Whenever I was frustrated,

I thought about them and found strength and hope. I will always be grateful for their example and I will keep working hard and looking for those who need me.  

On the way to the volcano we watched the Emma Smith movie on the bus. It is always good to remember their trials and faith. I really liked one of the quotes. “Strength isn’t something you have. It is something God helps you find.”

I love you all tons and hope you have a wonderful week in the red rocks! 

My Grace is Sufficient for Thee

Our House

Hey family!

I hope you are all doing really well and excited for summer! I am guessing you will be heading to Lake Powell in the next couple weeks and I am so jealous. Yesterday when I flipped my calendar to June it says the first day of summer on the 21^st. I crossed it out and wrote winter in place of summer. The good news is I really like the weather so far in Los Angeles. It is like late fall and the sun has been out the majority of my time here. So that is good. 

We had a pretty sweet miracle this week. On Tuesday morning Elder M received a text message from one of our investigators who had been planning to be baptized in July. We had encouraged her to move it up knowing that the adversary can work on investigators when he has time. She texted us and said that she couldn’t sleep all night and wanted to be baptized the seventh of June! She will be baptized this week! She is a very nice and her mom is a recent convert. The mom is one of the nicest people I have ever met. 

The ward also went to the temple this week and had a great experience. There are many new converts and many got to do baptisms for the dead. It was a really great experience for them. This Saturday the other companionship of elders should have 6 baptisms and we have  one so we are going to try and put together something special to celebrate. 

Outside of that nothing too big happened this week. We knocked on a lot of doors and talked to a lot of people. 

Elder M shared a great scripture with me that I absolutely love in 2 Corinthians.

"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches , in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ´s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong" 

I love this scripture. 

Our backyard. Pretty cool! I like going out to the back patio to jump rope in the morning.