June 2nd

Hola todos. 

Glad to hear that everyone is doing well! I was super excited to hear that Alex was able to have a conference with Elder Holland, was able to baptize J__ M___ , and met A___ M____! The news about Karen and Dad and Portland. I really liked the photos, although it looks like you guys went to San Diego, not Portland with Dad and all of his Chargers get-up. And a lot of commotion in the ward. More good news than anything. Shoot! A lot of marriage announcements. 

As for me- YES the weather is super cold right now. We have had quite a week of walking in the cold. We are trying to find new investigators, and the weather just doesn´t help... A few weeks ago we were door-to-door contacting and met a woman named M__ E___ M____ who had told us that she was very busy, and would attend to us when she had time. Most öf the time this means they don´t want to hear from us and kindly shut the door. But we gave her an image of Christ and left it at that. The other night we went to her door and as we were calling out to see if anybody was home and she appeared from around the street corner. She let us in and explained to us how much it meant to her that we had given her an image of Christ. How she really needed it at that moment and that she is struggling to support her family as a single mother with her two sons attending a university. And how she is really busy with her career and at the same time very lonely. We explained to her the importance of the love that our Heavenly Father has for us and the need to have Him in our lives. We are going to continue to teach her this week. 

 

We were also able to have a family home evening with the Bishop and his family on Monday. It was pretty crazy with him and his four sons. We also had a Convert and her family with us. It was supposed to be a NDH to get to know Bishop Pardos, and his wife and family, but it was pretty chaotic. We didn´t really get to talk much with the Bishop.

 

We were able to go out with Hermana Wright on Wednesday . I mentioned that you guys were planning on going to Portland. She and my Mission President are from Oregon. She told me that the water was contaminated, but obviously I wasnt able to tell you in time. I hope you didnt drink the ocean water lol. 

 

Not much else this Monday. Les amo mucho. Yo veo las bendiciones, aún pequeños, cada día. Estoy agradecida ser misionera acá en Chile.

1 Nephi 1: 11-12, November 18

Wow! I first have to say what an AWESOME experience that was to have Dad´s old Mission President come and visit. So cool, and I am sure y'all had a lot to talk about! Berthelson is definitely not a common last name. 

It sounds like your weeks have been pretty full. Weddings and crafting, etc. Sounds like a lot of fun! 

 

Elder Holland and his wife were able to visit! We arrived at about 5:30 am to get our good 4th row seats and waited for 4 hours until he arrived. There were 4 Missions in this conference which he said is the largest conference that they have had of missionaries. He mentioned something of Elder Perry: that this Moment with all of the Missionaries that are serving right now ranks with the events such as the First Vision, The  restoration of the Book of Mormon, and equal distribution of the Priesthood. One of the coolest stories and best applications that he shared was that of a world famous swimmer that he had known during college. When asked in an interview from the press how he did it, he said "kick when you don´t want to kick and stroke when you don´t want to stroke". Which I have taken in this week, especially with the rising temperatures here in Santiago. A few of these days have been cooler than others, but other days have been incredibly hot. Its also like Phoenix, a very very dry heat haah,, but it was such a wonderful experience to hear Elder Holland Speak.

 

One of the other things that we had this week was called a CVC, like the visitors center they have in Salt Lake. It was for the members to bring friends and invite them so that we could do a tour (the sister missionaries) then we brought them into a room so the Elders could explain baptism and each one of the auxiliaries had displays in different classrooms. It was pretty dead for a couple of hours. The ward members had a hard time bringing people, but it was absolutely incredible with the youth in our ward. They went out and at around 8pm there were about 20 kids who came in to do the tour. It was so cool! From what I hear they invited a birthday party hahah. There was def a spark of missionary work within the ward. A couple of our investigators came too! They were able to socialize with the members and they enjoyed the tour.

 

We have been doing a special fast for some of our investigators- M___ y G____ and E___ and E____. It was great that E____ and E___ were able to come to the CVC that we had. And we also invited M___ y G_____ to be baptized. They are absolutely wonderful, just a little unsure. But we are patiently working with them.

 

I am so glad to hear all of the new that is going on, in the ward, and with family and friends. I hope you (d n k) enjoy your travels to Chicago. People think that all that my parents do is vacation. True dat! ahah but i know you guys are working hard too. 

I will have to tell you about Hermana F______ someday. Kind of like the abuelita that you have. We bought her a "FUTURA MISIONARA" plaque. ......

 

We have been having a lot of lessons about the Book Of Mormon and how important it is. If anyone falls away from the church, the question must be asked if they are reading the Book of Mormon. This book was written for our day. I would hope that you are all continuously reading the Book of Mormon and strengthening  your testimonies about the divinity that come from reading it. Pray, read, go to church. Its the perfect formula. 

 

I attatched a couple of pics from my bday, a couple of the CVC and my comp Hermana salazar and Hermana ekins waiting for Elder Holland at 5:30. I love you all very much and hope that you are having and will have a wonderful week.- Love you!

1 Nephi 1: 11-12

Doctrine and Covenants 123:16, November 4th

Doctrine and Covenants 123:16

Absolutely nothing has really happened this week... haha. Chile had another Feriado (holiday)- 4 days of no one working. I thought at first it was because of Halloween, but there is another Evangelico holiday which is also on Oct 31st so all of the Chilenos tienen dias libres 4 days without work makes for a lot of no one in the streets, or no one who wants to receive us, very very very boring. 


 One of the cool experiences that happened this week was with a lady who we contacted a while ago. Her name is E____ and she has a daughter named E____ who is about 23 and both of them are reading the Book of Mormon. I can´t remember if I mentioned them in one of my prior letters but they are both interested in taking lessons. We had an ex-misionaro help us with one of our lessons which really helped them last week, but this past week, we couldn´t get ahold of him and Hermana Salazar and I went by ourselves. When we came, they both told us that they didn´t want to continue to take the lessons. From that point, we didn´t really know how to take it. They both are incredible, they both read, but I guess prayer and faith are what they are lacking at the moment. They are also scared to leave the house to go to church for family problems. But our lesson was powerful and we explained clearly and simply what it meant to have faith. We talked about Alma 32 and shared our testimonies about acting on faith as long as we are dilligent and patient. They have agreed to let us return which is good news! 



I don´t know why I subject my letters in scriptures, but they are just scriptures that I have had on my mind this week. We always share a scripture with the members with whom we eat lunch with- I chose this scripture to share with this family in particular especially on the subject of missionary work. The Mom took it like I would expect in a sense of by small and simple things are great things brought to pass... the dad however told us that a small "timón" couldn´t move a large ship. And that is why I love the scriptures. We can all interperate them differently and our different viewpoints are all right. They are especially meaningful if we act of these things. On the subject of missionary work, they are both right. By our small efforts, we can see blessings of missionary work- but we can´t do it alone. One of the most challenging struggles has been to get the ward involved with Missionary efforts. It´s a tough mission, especially in our area, but I know that I am here in my area "el Parque" for a reason and I have grown to love the area, even though most of the time it doesn´t love me back. But I count my blessings and Hermana Salazar and I are constantly reevaluating to try and find small successes in our every day work as Missionaries, As always I hope you are doing your part en la obra misional.  
Also glad that my impala still has a picture of Christ to give it some character.


Thank you also for the Feliz Cumpleaños as well. I am celebrating by working this year... and my belated birthday gift might be Elder Holland next week. What a privilege it is to hear the Lord´s Servant-

General Conference Weekend

We had been working as hard as we could to invite members and non-members to the conference this weekend. It was truely a blessing to listen to President Monson, the Presidency, Apostles, 70, and chosen counsel to speak to us. Unfortunately, we didn´t have too much success bringing people, but wow.... What an incredible blessing it was to listen to each one of them. Truely inspíred representatives of the Lord. I hope you all were able to watch or listen with spiritual ears to understand the counsel to receive personal revelation. I was really grateful (yep, thank you K) for the prayers on behalf of the missionaries, and YES! One year ago, how cool to hear the growth of all of the Missionaries too! I know there are even more preparing (even in our ward) to leave. There was a call to the members as well. Know/hope you are doing your part. I come to realize every day that I am teaching Children of God. all with different backgrounds, lifestyles, challenges, strengths, and weaknesses. Yep we are among our brothers and sisters and it should never be difficult to extend an offer or help. We might have to go out of our way to do so, but the blessings of being a missionary don´t only apply to missionaries, but to everyone who gives of themselves on behalf of another. As these months have taught, life is a precious gift. I was thinking of my family a lot during conference this year :)

Hna Salazar and I have been working hard on extending baptismal invitations as well this week. There is an old woman named M________. We contacted her on the street, had a lesson, and we have a bap date for Nov 16th! Okay, we don´t know how this is all going to work out between now and the 16th, but we are hoping and praying that she will be willing to keep committments and take up our invitations we´re extending to read scriptures, go to church. She lives with her brother, and with her old age, has a lot of health problems. But she is still livin and rockin! She is super sweet. We were also priveledged to have a conference with our Mission President and his wife! It was wonderful, and we were taught to keep our head up even in the difficult situations we might be faced with in the Mission. We also learned Elder Holland  will be coming to Santiago on the 15th of November to address us!!! So cool! I´m so excited for when he comes!

We have also worked a lot with our "menos activos". Harder than I thought but we love them. It´s always interesting to hear how or why people leave the church. And for the most part it´s a lot more complex than we might think. It´s so important to reach out farther to those who might not have that solid testimony because what is so true is when you have a friend in the church, you have a lot. And unfortunately we might be able to afford a family "friendship" for 6 weeks, but the members have a big responsibility as well. I feel like I am challenging my parents to do a lot here. But truely!! The work extends farther than the missionary plaque!

 

Choose the right! 

Chao po