lo ha sido una buena semana aqui en JP. Discoursé mi primer Domingo sobre la importancia del ayuno por la obra misional. Y, aparte de esto yo estaba tranquila con hna Veron trabajando y conociendo los miembros y las calles. Los miembros son diferente acá. Menos JAS y mucho más niñitos de la primaria- un buen cambio jaja. Algo diferente es que tenemos algunos conversos recientes, estamos trabajando más con ellos ahora.
(It has been a good week here in JP. My first Sunday I discourse on the importance of fasting for missionary work. And apart from that I was calm and working with Sr. Veron knowing members and streets. Members are different here. Less JAS and more little children of primary-a nice change haha. Something different is that we have some recent converts, we are working more with them now.)
I have learned a lot within the last few days. It has been challenging to get to know the sector but Hermana Veron has been helping me a ton. The ward is different. I don't have too much to write on account of only being in my sector for a week. But we have been able to find a few new investigators and like i said above, a few new conversos which we didn't have in el parque. It has been a transition coming to JP, and I am also getting used to the cold weather starting up . que lata. I am also studying a lot more about hope which is my attribute that I am working on this month.- may. hope you like my scripture of hope to go along with it.
J P Alessandri es mi sector nuevo. Something notable about my sector is that COLO COLO (fùtbol team) plays here and in Chile, you`re either a Colo Colo fan ò de la U (de chile). But I have about 6 hours in my new sector. It was super sad to say goodbye to everyone in the ward yesterday, I will send you a few fotos. There were some cool things that happened yesterday, though. One of them is that our Less-Active, Hna M_____ G_____ went to one of our church activities yesterday. An Easter Activity, or as they say here, la Pascua de la Resurrecion, Hna M____ hadnt been to church since she was 14 years old. Although it technically wasn't Sacrament meeting, she came to church and loved the presentation by the choir. She is 54 years old. and our goal since the beginning of working in El Parque was to bring her to church- She also knew it was my last Sunday. Not only that, but after the presentation, Someone came and put their arms around me from behind. Her daughter, A____ was there, she too is a less-active. I didn't think that I would be able to see her before I left because she left for the weekend, but knowing that I would be leaving, she came and met us at church. She and her mom got to see the Easter Presentation. I said good-bye to a lot of the members here. I have been in El Parque for over 8 Mon.
Glad to see that K and Dad were able to visit the Hathaways this past week. And that you stopped by to visit hna coley! she looks well and happy!! and Sister Dodd got her Call!!!! Wow,I cant believe it!havent heard of Because of Him but sounds cool.
Alex- how cool with the Boston Marathon. you are right Bstrong!!!!!
Dad- i love you and I live right next to a post office now. you will all be getting letters soon
I too want to let you know how much I love the Easter Season to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know He lives and He came to do the will of His Father. And that Our Heavenly Father not only had the love of His Son in mind, but the love for us. He left us with a special gift, the Holy Ghost, to remind us of His love.
I love you all and am grateful for the examples that you are to me, I hope you have a great week!
This week has been a lot of work- a lot of walking, I´ll just put it that way. We have had difficulty finding people. We are not sure if it is just this time of the year (it got a LOT colder this week) or what, but it sure has been a challenge. One thing that I am proud of this week is that I have been studying the Harmonies of the Gospel,. I´m not sure If i mentioned this in an email, a few weeks back or not, but it has been really really really cool, to start from the Beginning of the life of Christ and work all the way to the end. In fact, I suggest it. As of now, I am finishing His ministry in Galilea and starting to study the last week of His life. Perfect timing, eh? With Easter coming up this week, it is really special to know more of the Ministry of Christ and what He came Here to do. One day this week, I was studying in John 6. This is a chapter where Christ feeds the 5,000, where Peter walks on water to meet Christ, and where Christ teaches the people in Galilea that He is the Bread of Life. It pretty much moved me to tears. Reading from John 6:66-69. It is incredible that Christ did not cease to heal, teach, and serve those who only believed and did not follow. and how John3:16is one of the most merciful verses in the Bible. And yet, to follow Him completely to the end, there are very few willing to do so. I love Peter´s response in his loyalty and friendship to the Lord. And how we can respond the same way. I am very grateful for the teachings of the Savior, and these days that are coming up are days of recognizing Him, His life, and His resurrection.
I hope you all have a great week. I also ask that in your prayers you can remember the people here in Valparaiso, Chile. There have been huge fires that have killed a few people and left a few homeless.
A few photos from this week. Andres, Paula, Valentina, Cristobol and Vanessa (amiga de la Vale) after church. and making sushi at the bishops house. We also hiked the hill in our sector. Reminded me a lot of Cback :))
love you i will let you know when i get packages. everyone looks great! congrates hailey! she is so big and hazel. looks like yall had fun, :)
I don't have a lot of time to write this week. I LOVED conference. It is that much more special as a missionary and listening to the talks and thinking of how some pertain to the people we are teaching. It was a blessing to hear our Prophent speak to us. An ongoing topic from what I heard was the theme of the love of Jesus Christ. There is never an end of learning or knowing more about our Savior and our Relationship to Him. There is not an end to knowing what the Atonement is and how to apply it. And I am taking on the challenge of studying it and applying it more. I am so grateful to know that I am a daughter of Heavenly Father. And that as a missionary, I can testify of this truth.
This might be the shortest of all of my emails, but I hope you continue on this week and ponder on the truths we´ve heard from the servants of the Lord. I love you all and am grateful for your examples of faith. Faith is an incredible divine attribute.
pics- A___, P____, V_____ (holding her cousin____) F____, her friend and C______
baby shower for A____
pic with my comp after conference
Please keep in prayers also the people in Northern Chile. very terrible earthquake. Don't worry about us here. We are safe. We do get some cool temblores though :)
Short email this week! I don´t have a lot of time to write. Neither was there a lot going on. It has been a pretty cold week weather-wise. And we have been working, battling the sicknesses that are going around Santiago. It seems like everyone we have gone to visit this week has been under the weather. Please continue to pray for A____ G____ and his family! They still don´t know when they can get married. They have the desire, 100%, they just need to ask and take care of the paperwork now.
I, like Elder Berthelson, am getting ready for the conference. We are telling all of our investigators about it. I am super excited to hear the prophet speak and direct us. I was also very grateful to receive a package with a conference talk from President Packer! and some twistables to mark my scriptures with. Thank you so much!
I do have a favor from you, each of you, Dad and Karen esp. I am studying the attributes of Christ in PMG, starting with faith. If you could send me a conference talk, share your testimony, or anything relating to the topic of faith in Jesus Christ, I would greatly appreciate it. I got this idea from my wonderful companion. And knowing that I am halfway through my mission, I am using the last nine months to study and completely apply these nine attributes. Ideas in application could work, too. I am so grateful to be a representative of the Lord and know that this is His work.
I hope you like the fotos . I now know how to make the perfect pancake thanks to our investigator, Jackalyn! Chilenos make them differently. nevertheless, i am excited to make them for yall when i get home. Also, eating at a pakastani (sp) restaurant on pday with the hermanas in our pension.
Perdón por la carta tan corta y fome esta semana. Les amo mucho. Disfruten esta fin de semana y escuchen las palabras de los siervos del Señor.
I
hope all is well! I will just say first off, If Florida is still in it,
there is still hope, right? Haa I can see dad is super excited this
week with the brackets. Crazy that Wichita got knocked out! Props to
Elder B and his bracket. He has always beenthe lucky one. Oh well. Next year lol.
It´s been a pretty busy week. I have a description with all of my pictures down below of what happened this week.
One
of the biggest blessings this week was being able to see a family
(entire family!) make a goal to enter the temple together. A____ G____
told us that a few weeks ago when we cam by for the first time,
he was praying for help in one way or another to come back to church.
The way he put it, we came in the exact time he needed it. We have had a
few lessons this week with his wife, P____ and his children V____ (11)
and C____ (7). They also have a 3 month old, F____. Their kids are so
wonderful!!! The last lesson we were able to have with them was also
with A___´s parents - one who is a counselor in the bishopric and his
wife who is a less active. We were able to talk about the temple. A____
told us that he and P____ have a desire to be sealed together as a
family. Like I mentioned in the letter from last week, the only obstacle
as of right now is getting married civilly. They told us they were
going to look into the tramites (paperwork) for it this Thursday
to be able to get baptized as soon as possible. We are still teaching
them and helping A____ worthily prepare to baptize his wife and kids. So many prayers are being said for this family right now!! I hope you can keep them in your prayers.
I
have been studying the Harmony of the Gospels. I started about a week
ago. I have also been pondering a lot in the characteristics of hope and
grace. John 1:16-17
is where John bears testimony of Christ and the term of "Grace for
Grace". I also read a talk this week by Brad Wilcox that was in the
Liahona about this concept. How Christ paid the price for all of us and
everything about us, not just the part that we don´t amount to, and that
we will really be saved in the end by the Grace of God. But our obedience and our dilligence will determine how comfortable we will be in the presence of God.
Well
to explain the pictures, I got my haircut like I told ya'll last week.
We also had a Noche de Hogar (FHE) with the youth. We watched a
conference talk by Elder Holland "No One was With Him". It was about 18
minutes long and we had a contest to see who could keep their arms up
holding two cups of water and paying attention to how Christ felt as He
made his Journey from Gatsemane to Calvary. Pshh them youth dont know
how to keep their arms straight. I was dying in the end, but was able to
keep my arms pretty much straight the entire time.
We
also had another C____ A___ where we did tours to explain to
people what we believe as Latter-Day Saints. It was a privilege go to a
region called San Jose de Maipu. It is a lot of country and a really
pretty part of Chile up higher in the Mountains. We were asked to go and
help out Saturday. The total number of members make up a branch and
they hold their meetings in an old home in the middle of the town. Here
in one of the pictures are all of the members of the Branch. There were
also a TON of people who came! it was a very successful night.
I
wish I had gotten a better pic of San Jose De Maipu. From what I hear
there is snow in the winter in this region. It kind of looks like AZ
desert from this pic, but it is really pretty.
I
hope everyone is well. I always look forward to writing yall and seeing
what yall are up to.
Praying that
all is well. Prepare for General Conference and keep on the straight and
narrow.
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