Doctrine and Covenants 76:10, March 10th

Wow!!! How cool, I LOVE the letters and the events and everything that is going on back home. Sounds like everyone is doing well, Que Bakan that dad and K were able to meet Abuelita! Jajajaja. I can imagine that it was quite the reunion to meet her. I can also see her having her screensaver be a pic of my lil bro. It is hard not to fall in love with his personality and handsome charm, ha! & Congrats to (Elder) Richardson. It really is a small world!!! K- I am grateful for temples, too. The PHX temple is really making progress! Maybe I (and Elder B) will be home for the dedication? and thank you dad and k for the package! excited to receive it!!!
 

There isn´t much to report this week. Not too much has happened. One awesome thing is that we have been visiting a less active family, familia Y____, since we came to el Parque. The family has had a lot of problems within the last year or so where the dad had stopped going to church, and we have seen the decline in his wife and his two daughters in coming to church. We have been persistant in having the dad bring his family to church, and he finally did this past Sunday! He was also able to have an interview with the Bishop.- This family is so wonderful, so it was wonderful wonderful to see their family come back to church!

 

One of my favorite things to study, read, and understand include the mysteries of Godliness. The temple is the place where we can learn and understand more of this topic. We learn who we really are in the temple, who we were and who we can become. It is our relationship with our Heavenly Father that can illuminate our understanding as His spirit sons/daughters. 

 

I apologize for the short email. Little time. But I am so grateful to be here and love serving here. 

I hope all is well. 

 

Love you- Hna B

 I also included a píc of our  family, Figuaroa/Marin. Their family is one of our absolute favorites! When we came to the ward, Hna Figuaroa was MA, and over the past 7 mon we re-activated her. She lives with her son, Cesar, and Grandson, Daniel who recently returned from his mission. It was Daniel´s birthday this past Tuesday, so of course we celebrated. We count that as progress because Hna Figuaroa doesn´t celebrate birthdays. We call her as a Test. de Jehova (they don´t celebrate bdays).

We also had cambios. Well, we didn´t, but the other companionship did. Hermana Pérez left, So we took a picture of the four of us early in the morning. All 4 of us have been together for 7 mon. 

DyC 50:26-29

Familia- 
It was so cool to get to talk to y'all on Christmas!! I hope it was enjoyable for everyone. It was pretty hot here, and we had a lot of ice cream that day... We did a lot to lead up to Christmas this week. We were giving out the rest of our cookies, we did some caroling in the plaza in our sector, we had lessons with our investigators about the Spirit of Christmas. Over all it was a good week. They don´t celebrate Christmas like they do in the states. And it definitely didn´t feel like Christmas- it passed pretty quickly actually. But we had a fun Christmas morning, the four of us in our pension. I told them about dad, and how he has to shower, get ready, eat his bowl of cereal before we can open presents. And about Karen`s delicious Christmas breakfast creations... haha. It was fun though. We opened presents that we bought for each other and I made pancakes and eggs for everyone. After, we caroled for the man who works outside of our apartment building and went to the Lopez´s house to eat lunch and talk to our families. But we worked like normal on Christmas after I finished talking with you guys. 

It was Hermana Salazar`s birthday on Friday. We had planned to go to the Temple with a couple of other Hermanas, but it ended up taking a lot longer to get to the temple than planned. The horario de la Navidad with all of the micros set us back, and we ended up getting there a lot later than planned, and so it was just Hermana Salazar and I who did a session...... In general, it was just wonderful to go back to the temple. I will get to go once more next year, and then at the end of my mission. 

That day I had called up a less-active family (familia A_____) to see if we could have a surprise "Once" for Hermana Salazar. They decorated their backyard with balloons and we had a Pan de Pascua cake with other snacks which was kind of cool under their tree decorated with Christmas lights. Hermana Ekins, Perez, and I made a piñata for Hermana Salazar and I made a pretty sweet ice cream cake. 

R____, our investigator is progressing. We had a lesson on the Plan of Salvation with her, and we could feel the Spirit so strongly. You could see her eyes light up  when we were explaining that we were created before this life and that this earthly existence is not the end. Unfortunately, she has had, and is having a lot of family problems, but it was a blessing to be able to teach her about the Plan of Salvation. She gets so excited when we come to visit. She is progressing slowly, but I am grateful for that because I feel like with the questions she has and her understanding, we learn together. She has been able to go to a few of the ward activities and is getting to know a lot of the members. Stay postponed with baptismal date-

There have also been other miracles that we have seen this week with visiting families, getting into homes that we couldn`t get in before, contacting, etc. It`s hard work, especially with the heat, but fun none-the-less. 

I don`t know if I have ever told you about our Bishop, Bishop Llancoñanco. He is like Michael Scott.. anyways, we had our third hour, fifth Sunday yesterday. He had everyone gather into the cultural hall and we watched a Mormon Messages. I was thinking a lot about my papi yesterday with one of them. The one about our Earthly Father and our Heavenly Father. I also was studying in DyC. A lot about the Priesthood. I was pondering on just how special it is that Alex and my Dad have the Priesthood Power. In vs 26 it explains that this power is ordained of God. And not to be looked upon as a power to Rise above, but to fall below and to buoy up and serve others. I know that we are human, and we all have sins, but it is pretty cool to know that worthy Priesthood holders have the ability to do ALL things in the name of Christ according to their faith and worthiness. I would always hope that the Priesthood holders I know have a life reflected on Christ even for those small moments where God will provide Earthly miracles on account of the worthiness of the Priesthood holder. I hope that Karen will find the video and that you guys can watch it. 

Editor's Note - see below for this quick Mormon Message or you can click here:

I don`t know if it is possible to burn a disc of mensajes mormones (mormon messages, spanish?) thought of that after i called  you. I don`t know if there are really any new years traditions here, but we did see some fireworks the other night. USA has a pretty big influence in Chile, I am guessing we will have fireworks for new years. Cool for Tyler Mander and way awesome for Kennedy! She is going to be an incredible missionary.  

Grateful for you guys and your goals, no not finished w LDM yet, but I am going verse for verse with my Journal of it so it will hopefullly be finished  by next year. And thank you K! I am excited to see the glue-ins. Hermana Salazr is going to love them too.. 

Keep workin hard Elder B! I put together a very small package for you. I will let you know when I send It.

Have a good week and Happy 2014!

Con amor,

Mark 2:17, October 21

We have been very fortunate this week to have been able to see miracles. There was a menos activo family on our ward roster, the T_____ family. We have had bad luck these last few transfers trying to get a hold of this family, but about a month ago, we had a lesson with the mom. She showed absolutely no interest in coming back to church, and for the most part, kind of astounded Hermana Salazar and I with the things she said. She bluntly told us that she did not want to come back to church. Here was a family with the parents being converts and sealed in the temple with their children. We asked why she has separated herself and her family from the church, and for the most part they were petty problems. So we hadn´t been back to visit in her home since. Once in a while we saw the youngest in the family in the street and would say hi to him and ask how he was doing, but other than that, not much contact with the family. When we had divisions the last time, Hermana Salazar and Hermana Zunñiga were able to get into the house again and contact the whole family and put a time that we could visit them for FHE. 
On Thursday we were able to have a lesson with the family. The parents and three of their five kids the oldest being 17 and the youngest about 12. Our FHE lesson was about the importance of the family. We asked Hermana y Hno T_____ first who Jesus Christ was to them and they gave an answer. After, we asked the kids who had no idea how to answer. I think that really surprised the mom that her kids didn´t know who the Savior was. It was a really spiritual experience for them because I don´t think they gathered together as a family very often. Hermana Salazar and I were able to share our testimonies about the importance of the family and the mom told us that that is what they had been lacking and they wanted to establish family home evening. It was so cool! That has to be the highlight of the week!

I´ve attatched a photo of a woman who is 89 years old. She is absolutely incredible. She has a son who is mentally handicapped and has been taking care of him since he was born. He is 54 years old and has never walked in his life. We visited her all this week and had the priesthood come to give them a blessing. They were planning on building L___ (son) a ramp so he could easily get in and out of his house. It was so great to have two priesthood members to come to give them a blessing. Unfortunately, she and L____ are leaving to go South for three months with her daughter. So we said goodbye for the last time. We got her information so that the missionaries down south can contact her again.

We have finally gotten one of our investigators to come to church! One of our menos activos brought her friend and we have a lesson with her this week. Also, L____ (Peruvian family we were teaching a long time ago) came to an activity. It has been really hard to get in contact with their family. But she absolutely loved it and made friends instantly. Wasn´t able to come to church this week but hopefully next week.

We also have something called a CVC that we are doing in the month of November.November 16th we will be doing an "open house" to help both the members and ourselves obtain references. We are super excited and we know that the members need something like this to get the obra misional moving along.  

Transfers are on the 3rd of Nov. If you are worried about Hermana Salazar getting her things, dont worry and you can send them directly to me and If we are separated, I will be able to send her things still. I don´t need anything, but thank you! we have the temple next door to us too! 

Like I mentioned before, it has been hard to get investigators to come to church. We are constantly explaining, having lessons, fasting, asking members to come to lessons to try and help them remember the importance of taking the sacrament, resting from our labors, etc etc. Menos Activos as well. I have heard a few people say this now- that the church is a hospital for the sick. That has bugged me for the past few weeks. I attached a scripture that I found the other day. We are all sick in a sense. We need to go to church to remember the covenants we made with our Heavenly Father at baptism, or to remember our Savior Jesus Christ. There is no need for a Savior if we are perfect, and there is no need to go to church if we are perfect, but we are not. So yes, the church is a hospital that we all need and the Sacrament can help us remember that we can once again feel the healing Power of the Atonement that our spirits need. And there is not one of us who doesn´t need the mercy and grace of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Looks like everyone is doing well! It looks like you had some fun this week! Love the pictures. i attached a few... Hermana Perez, Hermana Ekins, me and Hermana Salazar in our apt. The one of Hermana salazar, me and S____. Me in Santa Lucia with flowers, and Contacting on the street. D____ who lives in el campo and sells "tierra" dirt on the street where we predicar y trabajar. (preach and work) Love yall!

Chao po