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

 

September 30

It has been a pretty good week here! At the same time, not so much. As far as lessons go, it has been a little difficult with investigators and getting lessons in, but we have had a lot more success with our menos activos this past week. 
Although we do have an investigator named M____. She is 70 yrs old and we invited her to be baptized. She said yes! She had been taught by the Elders many years ago, and we are continuing to teach her. The reason she was not baptized before was because she felt like she wasn´t ready. And she is going through a divorce right now which now she feels like that is holding her back again. We are continuing to teach her about the Gospel and the need to be baptized and to not be afraid to make covenants with God. We are continually praying for her and are hoping for a baptismal service on the 4th of Nov. 

I have started a journal specifically for the Book of Mormon. It is really incredible. I am learning to apply scripture, and to look at the details. Nephi 19:23. That and we have General Conference coming up! I hope y´all are preparing for it.

September 23

 It has been a good week!! nothing really to report. Honestly, it has been a really slow week. I thought it was fun to see everyone getting ready for the holidays, but for us it was miserable. It is mandatory that the people here get the 18th, 19th, 20th off for the holidays and then the weekends were horrible too. It was like a ghost town. There wern´t even people in the streets. So it was a pretty sad week as far as citas go. 

One of the highlights of the week was that one of the members of the 70 came to talk to us at our zone conference. Elder Ceballos de la setenta.- it was incredibly motivating and It was a nice experience to hear from Him. He talked about the obra missional y the need to have a desire to work hard. We had also been practicing for a fireside for all of the returned missionaries in our stake. "Called to serve" (llamados al servir) which we have been singing non-stop for the past week. 

(this isn't Hermana B but it is the song she is referring to, it is in Spanish and it is in her beloved country of Chile, so I felt appropriate to share)  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Ebc3nqjvE
 

One experience happened this past Saturday- We were walking to the church building, and on the last street that we turned on, a lady opened the gate and literally fell into my arms. She was an old larger lady too. She was sobbing on my shoulder saying that her heart hurt and that she needed to go to the hospital. Meanwhile, Hermana Salazar was trying to call a taxi for her, and the daughter of the lady was just watching while all of this was going on. She was crying and saying prayers and asking God to forgive her. Apparently she had been drinking and had a bad heart condition and while this was going on I was trying to calm her down. The taxi came and her daughter (who was about 30) refused to take her to the hospital, so Hna Salazar and I took her. The taxi driver was driving like a madman and we were trying to keep the lady concious the whole time. So we got her to the hospital and made sure she was okay, dropped her off, and then we left... We´ve been praying for her. Pretty crazy though. 

One of my new favorite scriptures is Hebrew 12:1.  
We don´t need the extra burden of sin when we already have a cross to bear. And then we must remember that with patience, we will win the race. We can do all things Only with the help of the Lord.

September 16

It has been a fun week though (and by that I mean we have been working hard) first, the weather started out great.. until it turned freezing. Again, I am always cold, but all part of the mission experience haha-ç

We have been working with a list of potential investigators. Our little Peruvian family of three wasnt there this week and We didn´t get to visit with them Overall, it has been a week of ups and downs. We have been finding new people to teach, but at the same time, our progressing investigators have been out of town, busy, etc etc... Becuase of 18, everyone is out of town or leaving. Chile has a full week of no school, no work. Entonces, we have been outside a lot trying to contact. And so, this week will definitly be the same, if not worse.

We do have a part-member family and I don´t know if I have mentioned them or not, But their names are J___, E____ and A___. They are awesome! I think I mentioned them in one of my emails from last week or the week before, but we are trying to teach them and do service for them. They are absolutely a wonderful family. It is different here in chile because no one wants to get married.. so The grandparents are not married, their son (J___) and his polola (gf) are not married they have another son who lives with them and his polola who are not married. Basically a whole family who are not married who are all living in the same house. It´s a little funny, but just the lifestyle. So it is a challenge but they LOVE the missionaries. A few nights ago, we went over and they made us sushi (suchi in cast/esp) It was great because we had a lesson with the grandparents who would never sit in and listen to the Elders before. Blessings blessings blessings!

 

What more... I was called out to give a talk in Sacrament meeting yestereday. It was un poco chistoso porque el obispo recibó "the little kid step" so people could see me over the pulpit. I was prepared though, becuase I had my notebook with my personal study notes. I also used my basketball analogy again haha. But it was good from what people told me. I explained the importance of perservering now. How we "practiced and prepared" before we came to Earth, and how we need to live what we believe and use the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I can´t emphasize it enough. We need to use the atonement EVERY DAY! 

I try to live a little bit better than the day before. I am really learning .. well the past 2 months, that I lacked a lot of patience and love and I am trying my hardest to change. But I think that everyone can do a little better. The atonement is real!

 

 

We had a stake celebration the other day. Cueca, emenadas, muchas personas.. the guy in the blue is our Bishop LLancoñanco btw. the dancers are a lady in my ward n her daughter. also a pic of Hermana Salazar and me making sushi

2nd week in September

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Another family that we are teaching that is truly a miracle- A Peruvian (sp?) family of 3. They were a reference from the Elders before us. They live in the same apartment building as us and It was so humbling to go inside. They don´t really have much but they are an AWESOME family. We were talking to the daughter and mom (L____ 15 and Y___) for a while and just as we were about to leave the dad (Willie) came in. It´s not something that I can completely describe, but I could feel something different when he came into the room. It´s so hard to find a complete family and he right away told us that he wanted to be more family oriented. He said he wanted to start going to church with his family. We are going to bring up baptism in our next appointment on Wednesday. I will let you know how it goes.

It´s certainly crazy around here! Independence day is on the 18th. All of Chile is getting ready. Cueca-ing. It´s actually really cool. All of the town is playing "cueca" music. In fact, I´m listening to it right now. Everyone is preparing.

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I always get a little emotional when I end these emails. Not because I miss you, (well of course I do) but for the reason that I wish you all could feel what I´m feeling and know what I´m experiencing.  I know emails just aren´t the same. This Gospel is perfect and words just don´t justify. I love it everyday. I meet crazy people, and have had great experiences But I could never explain in words just how wonderful it is to be here sharing the Gospel.

Chao Po

Jasmine had a great email this week with several pictures.

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We were talking for the past few weeks about having some of the young women come with us to help us teach so yesterday Hermana Salazar and I did divisiones con las mujeres jovenes. Soló por una hora y medio. It was fun! I took J____ (K´s fb request) and D____ out and we worked on contacting the menos activos in our ward. They thought it was a little different- for never having contacted before, I would too. We actually didn´t contact any of the menos activos, but found people on the street to have lessons with. I had each one of them bear their testimonies and invite the people we contacted to have a prayer with us. I think they liked it! I was so proud of each of them and glad they came! Hermana Salazar had two others as well. All four of them were really excited to come with us and it was great to have them be missionaries for an hour and a half. J____ is 17 and is the only active member in her family- She wanted to fb find me (karen) so I hope you responded to the request! haha She is such a sweet girl and we are really working hard to get her interested in serving a mission!

 

One of the highlights of this week was getting two of our menos activos to come to church with us. One of whom is Hermana G____. She is a menos activo suffering from depression. She recently went through a separation, has a son on a mission, and is in bad circumstances every time we visit. We continuously visit with her though. On sat evening we called her and asked her if she would come to church with us the next day. She said she probably wouldn´t make it, so we went to visit her. That evening we bore our testimony about the power of fasting and how she needed to come to church. She did, and yesterday, she gave one of the most incredible testimonies I´d ever heard. It was so sweet and simple. She talked about the importance of having a testimony of Jesus Christ. I was so grateful for that experience.

 

I attatched a few pics. Me at the temple, hermana S and I eating our first empanada (they are amazing!!) I took a pic with a dog on dads bday. We call him "mike" because he has tiger stripes. a view from our apt, ... 

But all I can say is that I am blessed. we are blessed. And I am grateful to see the Lord´s hand in all things.

 

 

 

This pic is the view outside Hermana Berthelson's apartment....

 

August 26th

My favorite part of Jasmine's letter today
Not going to lie... It´s still freezing cold here, and I´m always cold but all part of the missionary experience right? ;)
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One of the coolest things happened on the Metro the other day. We get around the city by metro, bus, taxi, and walking. We were going to the Capacitacion that our Bishop holds every two weeks. I prayed that morning to have be able to feel and act on the impressions of the Spirit. While we were on our way to the chapel I was standing a few people down from a man who looked like he was about 40 who kept glancing over at us. I had an impression to talk to him, so walked over to him and I asked him where he worked and where he lived. His name was Felix and he traveled about an hour to work everyday and that he worked at a hotel down the street from the temple. So I talked to him about why we were there (there were 6 of us) and told him that we were missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ. He took out a burned disk from his backpack that read "comparison of Bible and Book of Mormon" and gave it to us. I gave him my Book of Mormon and told him it was a present from us to him, I told him to read 3rd Nephí 27 and bore my testimony that he could know for himself if he read. He had to leave before we could talk more, but the fact that he had that DVD with him gave me hope that his curiosity about the book of Mormon would be put into action through reading. The spirit made that happen.
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We have healthy meals and then fanta or coke,,, and they love to feed us. The food here is seasonal. they only eat one meal a day-- lunch. and then they have once which includes small finger sandwiches pasteles and matte or ecco (warm drinks which are apparently okay here haha) We usually eat rice, potatoes, and chicken with vegetables. Every day that´s our lunch. and we have it with a member and will share a scripture.. But I DO work out every day.. maybe not as much as hno Berto, but I do. 
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Last little story before I go.. yes lots of dogs. I took a pic with a dog on dad´s bday and was planning to send it to him. I´ll let you know more next week about that. Anyways, we were running late for district meeting and were literally running. A little dog caught onto my shoe while Hna Salazar and I were trying to get to the meeting on time. It was laughing- Just think of Paul Blart mall Cop :)  
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It´s a blessing to share my testimony every day.