Family!! Everyone!! Hello from Chile!! It was so good to here from you all and here how you are doing and what you're all up to. Sounds like la casa is very busy with everyone goin and doin their thing! All of you are so great! Curt--two things: 1. don't let your head get too big with all of the press attention 2. go to PROM (find a really cute girl that is royalty so it doesn't cost anything, and ENJOY). Jed--hoooray for school and autocad, and all of this dating stuff. I want to see this house you're designing, maybe it will be my future home. Plan well. Amanda--Thanks so much for the letter! I'll tell you what- missionary work is a lot different than what I thought before I actually started doing it :) But I promise, the good times outweigh the bad, keep 'er up! oh! and did you end up deciding on an internship? Rach--how's the new job? How's the crafts? How's having the Adam and Amber team back? Did they bring me anything? Clint--How about you just rock the slope for me, and make sure you're a good little boy in school.
Elder Child- Todo en Chile is loquisimo, de veras...no podia imaginar la obra misional antes de venir aqui. PERO! me encanta testificar y ser misionera. Es increible los cambios y milagros que tenemos la oportunidad de ver. Todavia tengo un poco miedo de hablar con personas y contactar a extranjeros, pero tengo que tener mas fe en la obra y en lo que hace el Senor para nosotros. Muchisimas gracias por su ejemplo y su testimonio, me ayudan mucho. Buena suerte en el trabajo con los miembros. Para nosotras, funciona a expresar gracias a ellos por lo que hacen, y piden su ayuda en lecciones. My companion and I have about 20 lessons with members everyweek, and it helps to include them- with their own testimonies and with your own.
Okay, so, I just wrote a really long letter to my President, and I'm going to copy it here, so you can see some of the things that went on this week. Below is a little big of my thoughts about the work, and some of the people that we're working with.
President Humphrey,
Wow, I can hardly believe that it's already time to write again to you. The time flies by here! I'm beginning more and more to understand what my purpose here as a missionary is; our zone meeting combined with our mission conference this week has helped me gain a greater perspective of what I am to be doing here. And although I feel this is a process that will take some time to fully comprehend, I am moving forward from where I am at, following closely behind my excellent trainer Hermana Hardy.
This vision the mission has, and this church has, is one of hope and love and centered completely on our Savior Jesus Christ. While as members of this church we recieve many blessings from its teachings, the greatest blessing we have is experiencing in its fulness the Atonement. We can feel clean, we can feel of worth, we can feel loved, we can feel motivated, we can feel strength, we can feel drawn to good things, because of the knowledge we have of our Savior. Being a missionary isn't about convincing people that they need to join a certain church, it is about inviting people to partake of these feelings now, and being completely ready to meet God and enjoy eternity with Him.
My focus is narrowing in more and more on how Christ has made it possible to overcome everything we face in this life, and doing it in the terms that He set. While He loves us all infinitely, and expresses that love in so many ways, we can only receive a remission of our sins, be completely clean, and enjoy the blessings of following His example through following His commandments, through doing what He asked us to do. Having faith in Him, repenting, or really changing our hearts, thoughts and actions to be more aligned with His, and then following Him into the waters of baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. This is why the action of baptism is so important. It is an action of faith in which we show with action, that we are willing to change our lives and follow Him.
With this new understanding, Hermana Hardy and I have been working really hard to invite others to take this step in their lives.
We visited Guillermo on Saturday evening, to give him his baptismal clothes and make sure everything was ready for the next big day. All week he'd been looking forward to his baptism for a long time, and has become so excited about the scriptures and what he is learning. He has such pure desires to be cleansed from what he has done and move forward with a better life. However, on this visit it came out that he has completely overcome his addiction to smoking. He smoked a couple of times this week. I don't think I've had an experience like this ever in my life before, where I was so close in witnessing the guilt and torment that comes to someone when they lose hope. He was so angry at himself for doing it, and ashamed to look at us or the Book of Mormon. He became really discouraged. We tried our best to encourage him and explain what the Atonement of Jesus Christ is able to do for us. We have all made so many mistakes and lost hope, but through Christ, we are able to repent and overcome the feelings of discouragement and self-disgust. I think this experience, although very difficult to pass through, will help him understand even more of the Atonement and provide strength for the future. So, it looks like either this Saturday or the next he will be able to enter the waters of baptism. We're so excited for Him! We will be working with him to stay excited about his baptism and teaching more about the gospel and the opportunities that await him as a member of the church.
Victor, while independent and strong-willed, has once again expressed interest in being taught. He is sure he wants to be baptized, but is not willing to put a date to it. He is very smart, has overcome many addictions, and is hungry for more information about Christ and His gospel. We are trying our best to provide lessons that help him in his journey to discover Christ and have the eternal, happy, united family that he desires. He lost his job this past week, which means if he can't find another he will have to move to Talca to find another; but I am a firm believer that God has His hand in all of our lives, and will direct his son to an open door to enter into His rest. He doesn't want to be majorily surprised by anything in the church after his baptism, so while we are teaching him other things about the church we are trying to build his faith.
Frequent visits to Janett, the mother of five children who is struggling to keep from drowning in her own life, has helped in her hope and spirit. She is finding solace in the scriptures and we are hoping to strengthen her faith so she can find strength to perservere through life's challenges, and make the necessary changes. Also, we are getting her more involved in the ward and introducing her to other mothers, so they can be good examples to her.
Gaston, a 20-year-old who is very sincere and humble, has had Satan working on him a lot the past couple of weeks. He knows the message is true, and has received several witnesses of its truthfulness, but has recently lost excitement about setting a baptismal date. We are trying to provide him with spiritual experiences and continually inviting him to move forward; but with his work and busy schedule it has been difficult.
Sebastian and Lucas are also being taught more of the gospel and we're trying to involve them with the ward and strengthen their testimonies.
This work is amazing and each day I am able to witness just little glimpses of what the Lord has in store for his children. What a blessing to be here!
Okay, so there you have it. As for the questions you had....mom, dont you worry a bit, me and the pulgas (friends in the bed) are getting along just great. I'm putting bug repellant on everynight as if I were entering the swamps of Mississippi, and I haven't gotten many new bites this week. Which is a really great blessing...the bites on my neck just kinda blended in with the zits, so I'm counting my many blessings and naming them one by one :) haha. I did get some when we went into a different house of a member. Her name is Jessica (pronounced Jessica with a Spanish accent ha) and she is sick, has lost one of her legs and is bedridden, but she has an autistic daughter and 2 others. She is a woman of simple faith and love. And while she can't go to church or do much with her time, she has still kept up a positive attitude and is continually praying for strength. Everyday I meet people that are so amazing and strong, like her, and I marvel at how they have let the gospel change their lives. MIRACLES MIRACLES MIRACLES.
As for the food, I am being taken care of!! I have yet to try a plate of rice with a blob of mayo (although I did witness the shelves of mayo in the store...they weren't joking). In the morning we do cereal or yogurt or fruit in the morning. The fruit is AMAZING and so ripe and delicious...all of the summer fruits are on right now. Peaches? yes. don't be jealous. Then for lunch, the members take good care of us. We go to a different home every day. And, so far, I haven't had anything too strange or gross...It's all been really good. Usually they serve some sort of simple soup and then a main plate. Sometimes rice, or noodles with chicken or veggies. Pretty much every meal they have a 'salad' which is peeled and sliced tomatos with salt and sometimes garlic, then also a bowl of green or purple cabbage with lemon juice and salt. Pretty good. Then, for dessert, fruit! Usually a quarter of a watermelon or cantelope with a spoon, then just go at it. So good. Then, that usually tides us over. We don't really have dinner. The Chileans have what is called 'once' (or eleven) and they have bread and coffee or something like that...but we plow on through!
This week we tried to find some new investigators, and while we were looking for certain references we had been given we ran into several other people that were interested in our message. I'm telling you, Heavenly Father knows what's going on. As we were asking for directions for a certain house, we ran into 3 jolly older men who are mechanics/bus drivers. We ended up teaching them about the Atonement, and a little about the restoration...and they all seemed pretty interested. Last night we did a second visit with one of them and his 21-year-old daughter, Jaime and Catalin, and they seemed very receptive and kind. This gruff man with an unevenly shaved mustache and holy shirt and round tummy knows quite a bit about the Bible and quotes poetry. Haha so great. He gives us free rides in his micro bus home.
Anway, I love you all so very very much! Dad, thank you so much for the encouragement and love. Good luck with the sandlot team and with the beautiful office time :) you're my hero. Thank you for reminding me that not only do we receive blessings from our Heavenly Father, but we have the blessing of knowing where these blessings come from. And Mom, I'm glad you're getting a mother's support group at home, Hna. Young is something else, I hope she's doing alright, send my love. As for package stuff, I'm doing alright food wise. I could use an extra laundry bag (since we have someone in the ward doing our laundry it would be nice to have two). And perhaps some more white camis. Hopefully R.S. stuff is going well, I can't thank you for your example and your love and your life in which you have shown me what a follower of Christ really looks like. Your support means the world.
Thank you for your prayers and support. I love you so much! Christ is our perfect example, in everything, and it's an eternal process to become like Him, but what a blessing that we get to know how we can change our lives NOW to experience pure joy and peace. Add Guillermo, Victor and Gaston to your prayer list, they need all the help they can get!!
Con mucho amor, besos y abrazos!
Hermana Child
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