Acts 17:27

Hola Familia

Wow, sounds like yall had a good week! Alex in Nashua, and Karen and Dad in Phoenix w the Borrowmans. Very nice! I liked the pictures as well. ........

 

And Congratulations to Devin!! Wow! There are a few missionaries here from Salta, Argentina. Yep, Hermana Salazar got it! He sure will come back with a different accent haha- And I bet, Dad that you were living it up with your old comp and your mission president- What a cool experience! 

 

I told you last week about M____ and A____. We were able to have the recorrido (travel) with them in the temple. In the end, she was in tears and was able to feel the Spirit. Later in the week, a member was able to come and help her with her house and was able to give her sick grand-daughter, A____, a blessing and we took her to meet the president of the Relief Society. She doesn´t leave her house very often, but she took a few very big steps in letting us help her, especially with getting to know some of the members. We are close to getting her to come to church. We know it will happen soon! Also, Hermana Wright (Mission President's wife) was able to do divisions with us one day this week. We taught a part member family where the dad is not a member. We were never able to have a lesson with the family because the dad is always working, but we are going to start teaching him and the family this week :)

We were able to teach R____ a lot this week. Keep praying for her because it has been hard to get ahold of her for the past couple of days. We have constantly been trying to get in touch with her, but with little results recently. 

Not much else has been going on. The hermana that we have been working with for months- R____- was able to come to stake conference con su amiga de Peru- M____ A___who we have been teaching. She isn´t one for listening, but we have some crazy stories about her. The conference was nice and it was a broadcast. Elder Cook was able to give a talk as well as two members of the 70 and a counselor in the Primary. 

 

Look up this scripture-. I have a note that I made for myself this week that says FEEL AFTER HIM. The Spirit will guide us in knowing who our Heavenly Father is. And we are the ones that need to seek.. or feel after Him. Because He is very, very close.  Keep me updated with how everyone is doing.

 

......

A picture with Hermana Wright

 

 

 And a picture of our Stake Center, Javiera Carrer

 Marisol (blue shirt) with Anita and Alicia in the stroller

 Rosa and Maria Angelica

Moses 1:39

Hola Familia!!

We have had a pretty good week! First news is that we have a Baptisimal Date for one of our investigators: RD. She is absolutely the sweetest lady I have ever met- just all around sweet! She is super creative, not only a grandmother, but great-grandmother. She is so full of energy and loves children. She is single, but keeps herself busy with projects and things. We met her about 2 months ago when we passed by this house with a giant  Viejito Pascuero (Santa Clause). . but anyways, we passed by and took pictures (pic attatched) and upon entering, we asked if we could sing her a Christmas hymn. 

So we did, and we had had little luck getting in touch with her after that. But we were able to pass by her house a few weeks ago with a member. Since then we have had lessons with her and we were able to put a date for March 2nd. One of her daughters was baptized about 25 years ago, and so she understands what it means to be baptized and she is preparing. I ask that you can pray for her, so that she feels prepared. Our biggest challenge over the past few weeks/months is getting in touch with her. She is a busy lady! but we have stressed the importance of our message and the commitments we give her. 

 

Yes I am still in El Parque (answer to dad´s q) and I will be for at least another 4 weeks. But the mission is not known for doing changes very often-- at least during my time here. So It is pretty normal that I am still here with Hermana Salazar. But bright side of things, it has been the coolest thing to see changes in people. For example, there is a less active lady in our ward named M_____. She has three kids who are members of the church. All who live with her and are less active. It was a complete blessing to find her in the first place because we have asked so many members and we don't think they know that she exists. But anyways, she was completely against us coming by- this was in October. So over the past few months we have been visiting her. Slowly she came to warming up to us. None of the other missionaries were able to visit her, because she lives far behind a (sort-of) abandoned house, because she is single, and because she just doesn´t like people visiting her. But we have been working diligently with her. We invited her to read the Book of Mormon, something she hasn't done in over 15 years. Although we haven´t gotten her to come back to church, we invited her to do a temple tour. Hna G_____, her daughter A____, and her granddaughter are coming with us to the Temple this Wednesday. And with the challenge to read the BOM, yesterday she told us that she completed the first book of Nephi. How cool is that?!?!

 

Other than that we have been doing well. Yes, it is getting colder, but we are working hard. A lot of people are coming back from vacations, so it will be getting easier in the next couple of weeks. 

 

I have been studying a lot about our Potential to become like our Heavenly Father. It has really opened my eyes this week just how blessed we are because we have come to this Earth to come and to prove ourselves, but just with being on this Earth, we have the responsibility and privilege to be like Him already. I have studied almost all of the scriptures in the topical guide that says. - Man, Potential to become like our Heavenly Father. I have learned a lot with this scripture alone. 

Moses 1:39

 

Time has escaped me. I love you Dad, K, Elder B. I pray that you are doing well and that you find joy in the blessings of the Spirit this week... Especially with the Temple ;) love you

February 3rd, John 15:1-16

Hoolllaa familia-

To start on an easy topic, (the weather) there has been a slight cool down and we have been fortunate enough to get a little bit of breeze the past few days. Yes, like I explained in my last email, there is a large group of Chileans migrating down south for the summer. But we were still able to manage teaching and finding new investigators. 

It has been a very quick week. I apologize for the lack of words, but I don´t have very much time to write this week.

One of the cool things that happened this week was that we went to visit a part member family. We hadn´t visited them in a long time due to un-interest, unresolved issues with members, etc etc... But we went by the other day to see them before they left for vacation. The pareja, J__ and E____ and their only daughter were there. We were able to visit them and learn that their daughter has been having some issues with weird paranormal occurrences. But anyways, we were able to talk to her father who is the only member in the family and explain once again the importance of the priesthood and having Christ be the center of their home. He explained to us that he wanted to come back to church with his family. We visited this family when we first got to the sector and I believe I included a photo of us painting their house a while back....

More than anything, I am excited to hear all of the news! Glad both K and dad got to take a vacation. Excited for Devin too! good looking picture. I say England. Hermana Salazar says Argentina, we will see in a few weeks. Also pretty cool that Hal and Shela came down to do a pool down here. I am not in a rich sector, but a few times I have done divisions in those areas. I can believe it! 

lol annndd... I can´t believe i missed the Snow in BR! haha 

I'm grateful for all of the news in the ward. And thank you K! I got an envelope with the story of Grandpa Everett! It was really cool to read about his conversion esp from his perspective. What an awesome man. So glad I got to know him as well. Thank you for sending :)

Alex- espero q todo este bien contigo. esto y q recibiste mi paquete. sé que estás haciendo tu parte para traer las almas al Evangelio. Trabaje con fuerza y fe Élder B! Oro por tus investigadores y para q estás bien siempre. te ammooo.

If i could give you a scripture (o más) to read this week, I would tell you to read John 15:1-16... loved it. take what you can out of it. Love you all.  

Sister Jasmine Berthelson

Chile Santiago East Mission

Alma 43:9

Familia- So we didn´t have transfers. In fact, very few missionaries had transfers and so I am still in El Parque for the time being with Hermana Salazar. The work is moving verrry slowly. We are still working with R____, but we are figuring out how to start on a clean slate. There wasn´t a lot going on this week but we had a pretty cool activity with the youth in our ward. We have what are called Farrias which are the flea markets that are set up by workers. Since one of the families in our ward works in the Ferria (which is located directly outside of our chapel) we were able to set up a table and have the youth help us contact people. The youth also made giant Book of Mormon/Bible replicas. They had a really cool experience with a lady that they contacted. They were able to go to her house and invite her 12 year-old grand-daughter to attend church! Unfortunately, this time of the year everyone is going on vacations. So there haven´t been a lot of people to teach this week, and we hear that February is worse. It is very hot and everyone is leaving Santiago. 

We have started teaching a man named R_______. He is awesome! He was a contact we made while trying to call to someone else. We left him to read a chapter in the Book of Mormon last week and we passed by again this week to find that he read and really loves the Book of Mormon! The only problem we have is that he lives alone and we can´t enter unless another Hermana is with us. I´m super excited to work with him.

I hope you like the píctures! A couple from the Ferria, one of me and Hermana Ekins with "beignets", another with me and a Charungo (guitar of Chile), and our District.

 

 

 

I have been reading a lot in Alma.. the war chapters. We were able to have a good lesson with a less-active couple about this verse. It is super important to protect the things we have that are important to us. If we value something, we protect it. These chapters apply to us as well. It is also important to protect our beliefs and to use our testimony as a shield. I also love D&C 93 and am glad K attatched it in her email. The Glory of God really is intellegence. It is also the chapter in which we learn what truth means. And yes, I am excited to go to the dentist for my check up next year! Dad, thank you for the email about temporal and spiritual assistance. Our Mission is hard. There have only been a handful of Baptisms in our Zone with all of the time I have been here. It´s hard with the customs in Chile. But we have been blessed to be able to work with a lot of Menos Activos- a ton. It is always a blessing being in the Service of the Lord. 

 

Not much else- Hoping for a good week. I haven´t been hit by the sun too hard, although I do have a pretty nice tan ;)

Love you!

1 Nefi 17:15

Hola Familia-

This week has been a little crazy! Sounds like like it was fun on the other end of the world haha.  I know K and Dad had a fun time according to the letters! Glad you were able to visit the Temple w the Hathaways! Makes me miss Louisiana just a little! But.... I was able to have a kind of beignet this week that some of the members made for us. Doesn´t have the powdered sugar, so it´s not the same. One of the blessed discoveries of Chile is a topping called Manjar! It is like a thick caramel but 50x more delicious. I have decided that when I come back home, I am going to make beignets and bring manjar with me. Not healthy at all, but super good. Hermana Salazar and I decided to make a dinner for one of our members, K____ O____ this week. Enchiladas! It was delicious. I even made mexican salsa. Gracias a los 3 días en Mexico! Unfortunately, I stink at picking out avacado, so yep. The guac turned into salsa. 

 

I have come to find that a lot of our small encounters have turned into giant blessings looking back- We were contacting a just a month ago we found a 17 yr old boy, J_____, who had just moved into our sector. He had mentioned that he was a convert along with his mom and sister- all of which had been less-actives for the past couple of years. We had told the Bishop and YM presidency about him and we were able to visit him a few times. There was EFY this week where all of the youth in our ward went and the day before, the Bishop was able to visit him. The Bishop pretty much told him he had no choice and he had to go (especially since it was his last year). So all of the youth were able to go. They came back and bore their testimonies on Sunday. His was especially cool to hear. We heard that he wants to and is going to start preparing to serve a mission. 

 

A few of the Young women have decided to as well. K´s fb friend J____ has decided to go and I am sooooo happy for her! She is the only member of her family with little support. Please pray for her! We have also had a lot of success with our Menos Activos. We have challenged pretty much all of them to read the Book of Mormon. We printed off sheets for them to fill out, and we have seen progress with a few of our families. 

My scripture this week above is one that I could fully put into application for the mission. Just to be obedient in keeping the commandments. You can´t make anyone do the same, but you can encourage them to be faithful and diligent. My companion has helped me put into perspective Article of Faith number 11 as well. That we are not here to judge another´s relationship with our Heavenly Father and that We are blessed to help people come unto Christ how they choose to. 

 

Other things of this week?.. R____ invited us to her birthday party. With M____ A____ from Peru and J____ who is diligent in feeding all of the blind dogs in the park. Hilarious, but there are many stories of her. There was also this dog that followed all throughout our sector one night and i was feeding him the cappucino cookies we received from a MA. 

 

 

 

The other pic is a few of the hermanas on p-day. 

 

I received a package!...... love the headbands and pens .. etc! esp the light up one. I am constantly trying to finish writing in my journal every night before the lights go off. ....... we have cambios (changes) at the end of the week, so we will see what changes. ..... Love you lots!!!!!! have a great week!

Words of Mormon 1:7

Hola Familia

First, I want to tell K, FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS!!! I hope it was wonderful and that you could enjoy it a little. We celebrated it over here by having a lot of lessons with Menos Activos haha. Second (which is directed towards K) Hermana Ekins -from the other companionship- wants to go to your Tech party. She is from Missouri, and wants to be your friend but I have told many stories of KJB and everyone wants to know you, K. 

 

We celebrated New Years at the Bishop´s house up until 10:30. We also watched Fireworks up until 12 from our balcony. We are still teaching Rosa, but it has been hard because she hasn´t been reading the Book of Mormon. We were able to have a lesson with her and the Bishop´s family where she could really feel the Spirit. And a few days later had a lesson on Baptism with little results. Ugh... stressful. 

 

But with this and said scripture above, Both Hermana Salazar and I can say that we are at work in the Lord´s timing. We are doing what we can, and with that we can always do better. It feels like a matter of trial and error right now, but we can really have joy in the positive miracles that each day brings us despite what might seem like hardships. 

 

There hasn´t been a lot happening other than that. A few new investigators with lessons, and we were able to have a couple FHE´s with the families in our ward this week. Haha, sorry I will try to have more news next week. 

BUT... I was able to just read Elder Berthelson´s letter.. That is awesome!!!! Wow- the Holy Ghost will just work with people and am glad for that example of following the promptings of the Spirit. It is really incredible what the Spirit can accomplish if we are willing to listen and act. How cool, AB such an exciting time for B_____ and keep working with him! :) Thank you K, Dad, and Alex for the letters. It is cool to hear of what is going on. I like the news about what is going down in B Rouge aha.. enjoy going to the temple with the Hathaways. Also was really glad for the message K sent about cousin Leona. Very cool what blessings can do. With a last thought, like they said in conference, I challenge/ask that if you already aren´t doing it, ask about the investigators from the missionaries in our ward and pray for them BY NAME. And be their friend on Sunday when they come to church. Put the face to the name. Lots of love! have a great week!

 

 

Words of Mormon 1:7

3 Nephi 11:29-30

...... I felt very spoiled with the packages I received.

 I am glad that you are keeping me updated on everything happening in the ward, with our friends, etc. Glad to know for the most part, everyone is doing well! ......

I have been reminded time and time again of 3 Nephi 11:29 and 30 in the mission. There is a reason that this is one of the first things Christ says to the people of Nefi when He comes. Love can change a person´s mind a lot more than fighting. Regardless, I am praying .....

I read the talk that Brother Persons had talked about. I really liked it. Treating the things we treasure differently. 

Editor's note: Below is the video of this talk.  Go to about the 7 minute mark of this video to hear what Hermana B is referring to.  This was our lesson in church a few weeks ago and I had shared the story briefly with my missionaries.  

Eternal Marriage - F. Burton Howard - April 2003 General Conference

 

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2003/04/eternal-marriage?lang=eng